Great Western Coffee Shop

Community Rail Partnerships have the potential to play a pivotal role in efforts to re-open much missed local lines. Although we do not underestimate the challenges (or costs) of re-opening lines that have been closed for many years, the renaissance of rail travel since privatisation and the continuing growth expected in the next decade mean it is now practical to re-evaluate some of the closures of the past. New housing also has the potential to transform the economic viability of disused lines, particularly where developers are asked to make a contribution to funding the public transport infrastructure needed to support new homes

We will introduce a moratorium on building on any disused rail paths still in public ownership. This will last for the whole of our first term in office. These corridors are a precious transport resource and once built on, they are lost forever. Not only will our moratorium keep alive the option of re-opening old lines, in the interim period, these corridors can provide excellent walking and cycle paths.

The ATOC press release suggests that they are in a process of looking at how they can be consistent with the rail policy of a future Conservative government.

http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/Railreview.ashx?dl=true

Graham's point is very pertenant though.  I know he has a certain station in mind (one which he mentioned very occasionally  ;)) but there are plenty of places where growth is contrained by poor service or high fares (sometimes as a matter of deliberate policy in fact).  The arguments wheeled out to support re-opening (regeneration, environmental, ant--social exclsuion etc) apply just as well to existing stations

Report: Extending rail link would be 'on track'

A strong case to extend Paignton's railway line to Churston has been outlined in a national report.

First Great Western has backed the proposal to add an extra three miles to the existing train service from Newton Abbot to Paignton.

The service would run to Churston railway station on existing tracks currently operated and preserved by the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.

The Association of Train Operating Companies, which compiled the report, says the new line could potentially serve an extra 17,500 people.

ATOC's Chris Austin, who helped compile the report, said: "There are so many people living in that corridor who could benefit from an extension of the present main line service from Exeter to Paignton.  There is a very good station at Churston, built by First Great Western originally and kept in nice condition by the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.  The potential catchment area of the station is about 17,500 people, who at present have to use that awful road to get to Newton Abbot or Paignton.  The traffic congestion, particularly in the summer, would make it very attractive."

Mr Austin said the benefits far outweighed the costs involved in opening up the extra line.  "With this scheme there are no capital costs involved as the steam railway track already exists," he explained.  "It's one of the cheaper schemes."

Initial reports suggested the railway could be extended to reopen the line as far as Brixham but that appears to be a non-starter.

Brixham Town Council chairman Chris Bedford said Torbay Council had investigated opening the old Brixham line as a tram track or cycle route some years ago, but decided it was not practical because houses had been built on the line.  "It would be wonderful to have the train line back but, unfortunately, a lot of the land has been sold off and there are houses build across parts of the track," he said.  "It would have been an enormous advantage for Brixham. It's a major pain not having a rail link but it's what has taken place since that has precluded that happening."

In the decade after Dr Richard Beeching's first report on rail modernisation, published in 1963, more than 4,000 miles of track were closed and the number of stations was halved to 3,000.  In 1962, the Western Region decided to close the Brixham line entirely and the last train ran on May 11, 1963.

A spokesman for the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway was last night unavailable for comment.

There is a very good station at Churston, built by First Great Western originally...

Part of the problem with Brixham is the reversal.

Hmmmmmm...


That's news to me!

Part of the problem with Brixham is the reversal.

Hmmmmmm...


That's news to me!

Steam bosses pour cold water on rail link bid

The steam railway company which runs Churston Station says it has not been consulted over new plans to reconnect the line with the mainline route to Newton Abbot.

Andrew Pooley, general manager of Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, says the company has not been involved in compiling the report, which singles out the old Brixham line as one of 14 which should be reopened nationwide.  And he says the idea 'has not been thought through'.

But the Association of Train Operating Companies says it will hold detailed discussions with the steam railway if the plan goes ahead, and the heritage railway company would be 'recompensed'.

The railway operators say the service would be a direct link to Exeter and could attract 17,500 potential new rail users.
 
But Mr Pooley poured cold water on the idea: "We have not been involved in a consultation about this which is a shame because we could have saved them a lot of effort. The scheme has not been properly thought out and will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to implement."

He is sceptical about the journey attracting enough passengers and says the reinstated line will have to operate a heavily-restricted service during the busy summer season.

The case to extend Paignton's railway line three miles to Churston has been outlined in a report by the ATOC and is being backed by First Great Western. ATOC believes the cost of reinstating the line, which closed following the implementation of the Beeching Report in the 1960s, would be low because no capital outlay is involved.

But Mr Pooley says even though the rail tracks to Churston station already exist and are used and maintained by the steam railway, expensive new signals will have to be put into place. He explained: "We don't run a year-round service. We carry out track maintenance in November and then again in January through to March. Our drivers and firemen join the track gang to carry out planned maintenance during these months so a year-round service is difficult for us to accommodate with such a small workforce. There is an issue in terms of capacity during the six-week peak summer holiday service where we operate from 9.45am to 5.30pm every 45 minutes. They wouldn't be able to run a service in between because there's no time, although they could run services before and after which might be of interest to commuters. A service to Churston at 8am would be fantastic but we wouldn't want them during our running times because that would take our business away from us. They would have to invest in fairly expensive signal works which they haven't allowed for in this report, where they say the capital investment would be zero. About 10 years ago we did try to run a commuter service from Kingswear, but it wasn't supported."

A spokeswoman from ATOC said it was early days, but they had already looked at some of the issues raised by Mr Pooley. She said the association was aware some signalling costs would be involved and extra track would have to be laid for a new service. The steam railway would be 'recompensed' for use of the line when it was closed during the winter.

She added: "We are aware a commuter service was run in the past, but this would be different because it would take this route right down to Exeter, not just the shorter distance. This report is at the very early stages. We have just looked at lines we think have potential. But if we proceed there would obviously have to be detailed discussion with the heritage line as well as the local authority and Network Rail. The next stage is to look at the practicality and consider the extent of the costs involved."

I'm all for reintegrating, where possible, privately owned railways into the NR system so as to allow the running of through or connecting services. However, this particular Brixham suggestion seems to me to be largely hype.

Technical difficulties aside, if anything it would seem to make more sense to allow a couple of P&D trains to run through from Kingswear to Newton Abbot at peak times, providing for a commuter service between Kingswear Brixham/Churston, Torbay and Newton Abbot.   

Here is an aspect that I find interesting:

16 other links connecting arms of the network were considered, but as they did not provide new rail access to towns over 15,000, they were not evaluated as part of the study. The 16 were:

Bishop Stortford–Braintree–Colchester Presumably by making Stanstead airport a through station. Would give rail route from East Anglia to the airport avoinding Liverpool Street. Although trains to Colchester would need to reverse at Witham.

Burscough Curves Restores a route from Southport to Preston and gives second route to Liverpool. South curve at least to be electried for Mersey rail and restore Ormskirk as a through staion, See also proposed link to Skelmersdale.

Chessington S–Leatherhead ?

Glazebrook–Partington Doesn't this require a bridge over a large ditch?

Lewes–Uckfield Yes and electrified as diversion for Brighton Line.

Matlock–Buxton Yes but will upset Sustrans

March–Spalding Yes and 25KV as ECML relief.

Oxford–Bletchley with Manton curve:  Yes Where's the Manton curve? Manton was on the Kettering/Nottingham  line. 

Northampton–Bedford: Would need to study

Rugby-Peterborough: Presumably once again they'd pick up the Nene Valley railway at the Eastern end.

Skipton–Colne Yes

Stafford–Wellington Would need to study

Stourbridge–Walsall Part of the route is already earmarked for the West Midlands metro. But would give a South West to North east route across Birmingham, especialy with link to Sutton Park Line and proposed reopening to Brownhills.

Whelley Lines: Presumabluy a Wigan North Western  bypass

Willingdon Chord: Beds or Durham?

Woodhead Route: Undoubtably but still problem of two unconnected stations in Shefield

Basically the whole report is a load of hot air! >:(

Nothing will happen, esp if Cameron wins the next election.

mr brown is very good with money everyone knows all your money should go into the bank, hes just helping us by doing it for us

mr brown is very good with money everyone knows all your money should go into the bank, hes just helping us by doing it for us

Why should I give him credit when it means my taxes are in future going to be astronomical?

Why should I give him credit when it means my taxes are in future going to be astronomical?

I'm already fairly outraged at the ^7.50 in NI i've had to pay this year! Thank god I don't qualify to pay tax yet. 18 soon. Joys  :P

A passing comment on Labour, do they not slightly resemble a Tory government?

UKIP [...] Eurosceptic.

You pay tax at any age if you earn enough.  Age does not come into it.

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Very true. Believe my limit is something like ^5,500 per tax year. Luckily, due to being paid weekly, the way NI and tax are working out is different. (at least I think!)

one area where I favour the Tories is Europe. Lab and Lib are too Euro-friendly for my liking - why any party can associate itself with the most corrupt so called "democracy" in the Western World beats me! In fact, you can't call the EU parliament a democracy!

So I agree with the Tories (and UKIP) about keeping the pound etc, and being Eurosceptic.

The Tories will "never join the Euro" and obviously, neither would UKIP.

The Tories will "never join the Euro"

Don't be so sure of that with Cameron.

Peter Mandelson said that a Labour government is committed to switching to the Euro at some point.

The Tories will "never join the Euro" and obviously, neither would UKIP.

The EU parliament is corrupt. Full stop!

This Lisbon treaty will be the final treaty, as it removes the need for treaties to be ratified by each country, and our right to veto etc. Basically, the Lisbon treaty is the start of a creation of the United States of Europe. >:(

Exactly. You can't trust Cameron. He says anything to get votes!

It was Cameron who scrapped the long term Tory policy of Grammar Schools in every town, but then backtracked to say that existing ones would stay. Clearly, he realised he would loose many votes in Kent, Birmingham and other counties with Grammar Schools.

Cameron claims he'll have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but reading the small print, if Ireland ratify it, he won't! But that didn't stop him making a big thing of it over the EU elections.