Steam & Heritage
THE reinstatement as a heritage railway of the missing rail link between Bodiam and Robertsbridge Junction, a station on the Tonbridge to Hastings main line, has been given the go-ahead following the granting of a Transport & Works Act Order (TWAO).
The order was applied for by Rother Valley Railway Limited (RVR), working in partnership with the Kent & East Sussex Railway which operates the existing heritage line between Tenterden and Bodiam.
Planning permission was granted on March 22, 2017. The Rother Valley Railway (Bodiam to Robertsbridge Junction) Order was applied for on April 19, 2018. The public inquiry relating to the TWAO was held between July 6 and August 4, 2021 – plus September 2/3, 2021. The order was granted on May 9, 2023.
The anticipated cost of the Order scheme is £5.3 million which RVR confirms will be funded by the Rother Valley Railway Heritage Trust through donations, with no call on the public purse. This is how the railway has been constructed to date from Bodiam to the former site of Junction Road Halt and between Robertsbridge station and Northbridge Street, including the construction of the station at Robertsbridge via two major benefactors who have additionally committed to provide grant funding for the outstanding works.
Although the decision letter refers to the decision of
