Lines closed under Beeching could reopen

One would also hope that the line will have interchange stations with the numerous north-south lines it intersects e.g. HS2 at Calvert!

.. I look forward to lots of really speedy rail (re)openings. Replacement bridges might be needed in some places where they were removed. It doesn't take long to sort out a new bridge, just like that very short link in Watford to join two short branches to make a through route. (I'll get my coat).

Oh dear have we all been deceived by yet another "promise lots, provide no money, offer no commitment" announcement from Government?

I've been looking at the blizzard of stuff that's poured forth today as a lovely distraction tactic for another aspect of Government decision making guaranteed to get some people a bit cross.

In short it looks like the following

- restructure the East Coast franchise to secretly bail out the failing Stagecoach/Virgin franchise because NR can't deliver the track improvements in time.
- consider restructuring the GWR franchise into two partly competing Inter City & Regional franchises - basically London - Bristol / S Wales / Cotswolds and Thames Valley in one and Berks and Hants / West of Reading / West Country services in another. This would mean three operators between London Paddington and Reading if we include MTR Crossrail. Strikes me as ludicrous but there you go. The Greenford branch could go to Chiltern - no option of it going to TfL allowed.
- faffing around with "more cuddly, let's work together" Partnership or Alliance contracts for South Eastern, East Coast and Midland Main Line
- splitting GTR into two or more franchises post 2021 with TfL possibly getting some scraps from the table such as the WLL Southern peak shuttles and possibly the East Croydon - Milton Keynes service (more likely curtailed to Watford if Tfl were to get it as I can't see TfL being allowed to grab a share of West Coast revenue north of Watford).
- the "carrot dangling" of line reopenings has been done before and we've got precisely nowhere with it other than the stirling work of Chiltern Railways and the use of the planning process at Barking Riverside to force developers into coughing up money if they want to build any more than a few thousand homes. The irony of the Barking Riverside extension being quoted as a model of private sector funding is immense when it all hinges on a planning condition for the redevelopment. I can't believe this government is minded to use the planning process in such a forceful way to get money from developers to build railway lines / stations. The other irksome aspect of the "Line reopening" thing is the apparent desire to make local authorities responsible for funding and implementation thus carefully shoving responsibility away from the DfT. There is NO money and NO commitment to open one inch of extra railway in today's announcement. It's a massive smoke screen that was done several times by George Osborne and look how much of what he proposed has been cancelled by Mr Grayling on the grounds of unaffordability / no business case.


Only believe any of this when the money is handed over and a firm, deliverable plan is in place with guaranteed funding.

Some more factually correct headlines (that have not actually appeared - yet).

Government could reopen Whitstable to Canterbury line.
HS2 could be built as MagLev.
A new bridge could be built across the channel to take road traffic.

The government only seems to be promoting lines that already have plans. Okehampton to Exeter is already there; but needs signaling improvements and some of the double track relaid as passing points in the short term.

Paignton-Goodrington possible with some track alterations (already two platforms); maybe onto Kingswear. Churston - Brixham no chance.

There's a group promoting Newton Abbot-Heathfield. The tracks there, some still in use but, unlikely to be more than another heritage railway.

True but Exeter is a fast growing city attracting commuters from all over Devon making car travel more difficult. It already has 8 stations with 1 more planned, another proposed, and a satellite town to the east, Cranbrook.

Exeter Central passenger count is catching up with St David's. Paignton and Torquay (4th and 3rd largest in Devon) are to get a half hour service to Exeter. Exmouth (5th largest) want a 15 minute service to Exeter. Half hour service to Plymouth and Penzance using shortened HST's next year. Rail capacity will be struggling in a few years time.

Commuter traffic has fallen in London for the first time. why? Jobs are beginning to follow the commuters out of London to where the people commute from.

Wharton the source on these supposed timetable improvements?

Reopening lines will depend on huge residential and other developments. Hence Cambridge - Oxford. Ongar and North Weald are slated for big developments and are reliant on hopeless bus services. Stansted to Dunmow? Audley End to Saffron Walden?

And of course even then sps, remember Sinfin?

Rather than reopening new/old routes the challenge is to upgrade tracks to carry 120/140 mph trains. We don't even have a proposed route yet for Transpennine "HS3" but Hull-Leeds-Huddersfield-Manchester looks likely
"HS3" will require feeder routes.

Why Hull (pop 260,000) rather than South Humberside (331,000)? or indeed York/Teesside/Tyneside?
Why Huddersfield (437,000 for Kirklees as a whole) rather than Bradford (534,300)? or Sheffield (575,400)?

The North is not the South or even the Midlands, where a single metropolitan centre predominates. Serving only four of the population centres in the region is not going to be enough to truly boost the regional economy as a whole. A high speed link connecting just four of the major centres in the north of England (and not even the largest four) is not going to be the answer. A network of fast links is needed - something more akin to the Ruhr S-Bahn. Over the short distances involved, acceleration is more important than ultra-high speed.

A triangular limited- stop Leeds - Manchester - Sheffield network would be a start, other express routes feeding in to those three nodes. Whether it's best as a star (with a three-way junction in the Holmfirth area) or as a circle (which would provide double the capacity, but require less than twice as much building - but including two Pennine tunnels) is open for debate. The Sheffield/Leeds leg might be duplicated by HS2, but there are several major population centres on the way (Barnsley, Wakefield) which are large enough to require serving as a part of a limited stop regional network. Say Sheffield - Rotherham - Barnsley - Wakefield - Leeds - Bradford - Huddersfield - Rochdale - Manchester - Stockport - Sheffield. That's a loop of about 120 miles, so each of those stations would be no more than 60 miles, and five stops, from any other. Laid out for 125mph speeds, a maximum journey time of less than an hour should be possible (most centres would be much less)

Had they not closed a certain electrified Pennine route in 1980.... <seethe fume sound of teeth grinding>

The other thing with NFVNF (Northern Fastline Vide Norbiton Flyer ) is the number of disused branches that could plug into that system, possibly as new light-rail routes.

Nobody seems quite clear what/where HS3 will be, not surprising really as it's a dormant company owned by DfT. Which isn't perhaps unexpected given that HS4, HS5 and HS6 are all similarly dormant.