Reopening of Kemble to Cirencester Branch Line (merged topic, ongoing discussion)

[whole diary]

[ellendune]

That would be an all-new line (albeit a rather good one) - Northleach never had a railway station. The line north from Cirencester Watermoor went to Chedworth, Andoversford, and Cheltenham: at Andoversford, there was a junction to Bourton, Stow and Kingham, and thence to Chipping Norton and Banbury.

An interesting view I think the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would have put it as:

The line north from Cirencester Watermoor went to Chedworth, and joined the Cheltenham to Banbury (via, Bourton, Stow and Kingham and Chipping Norton) at Andoversford.

[patch38]

Plans in motion to bring new trainline to Cirencester

http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/14479243.Plans_in_motion_to_bring_new_trainline_to_Cirencester

THE capital of the Cotswolds may soon have its first train link in 50 years.

Early plans are afoot to reopen the defunct line between Cirencester and Kemble, serviced by an ultra-modern, eco-friendly train.

Cirencester's Mayor Cllr Mark Harris is spearheading the innovative project along with Richard and Jane Gunner, of Whiteway Farm, to lay 5km of track from the commuter station to the edge of the proposed Chesterton development.

At a Cotswold District Council (CDC) cabinet meeting in April, Cllr Harris and Kemble councillor Tony Berry laid out the vision to fellow members, saying a car park could be laid under electricity pylons in Cirencester and a regular bus route could ferry passengers to the town centre.

They explained the proposal was being driven by Warwick University, among others, where researchers were keen to test a new driverless ^very light train^ train it is developing.

It is hoped funding could come from county business promoter GFrist LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about), the EU^» (European Union - about) or other funding bodies.

Cllr Harris told the Standard that proposals were in their early stages but if everything went to plan trains could be whistling along the track in three to five years.

^We^re lucky that it is already very flat, though there is still a lot of work to do, including putting up a bridge over the Kemble road,^ he said.

^But it would reduce the need for parking, reduce cars on the road, and allow people in Cirencester to get to places like Gloucester and Stroud much more easily.^

Around 1,700 more travel in to Cirencester every day than travel out, creating congestion on the roads and pressure on parking.

A new train line with carriages able to fit around 100 people could ease these problems, while giving commuters a fast link to London.

Cirencester station was closed as part of the Beeching Report in the 1960s, along with thousands of smaller stations across the country deemed ^unprofitable^. The former station in Sheep Street was one of the 2,128 which closed.

Mayor Harris and the Gunners are meeting with the team from Warwick University and Geoffrey Clifton Brown to discuss the idea. He hopes a cycle track could accompany the line if plans go ahead.

The move received tentative support from CDC deputy leader Nicholas Parsons who said it was ^an interesting concept^.

Many other other groups in Cirencester have also voiced their support for the project.

They hope the move will bring down the Cotswolds^ carbon footprint while taking cars off the road.

To find out more about the project go to cirentrain.org.uk.

[Bmblbzzz]

Having the landowner in favour has to be a good sign, though I can't actually find Whiteway Farm on a map. Nevertheless, it does sound more than a little... experimental. 

[Stroud Valleys]

Its cheaper to run a bus service.

If the council provide the funds for a 6 month trial, matching whatever proposed timetable for the proposed link, lets see how many would use the service.

[patch38]

though I can't actually find Whiteway Farm on a map.  

I think that may be poor journalism. If you download the scheme document, its authors are from Whiteway House, The Whiteway - which is a road off the A417 to the NE of Ciren (i.e. not particularly near the scheme itself...)

[grahame]

Its cheaper to run a bus service.

If the council provide the funds for a 6 month trial, matching whatever proposed timetable for the proposed link, lets see how many would use the service.

Our evidence from the TransWilts is that only a small proportion of people who would use a train would use a bus, and that it's not practical to run a bus to train times .... by the time the bus reaches its destination on the first run of the day, the train would be halfway back to where it started.

My comment isn't about Kemble to Cirencester links - not something I've studied - but just to suggest that a trial bus service wouldn't map without fudge factors onto a train service, and those fudge factors would dominate the results to the degree that the results would be highly questionable.

[patch38]

There are already bus services from Cirencester to Kemble (93, 855 and 881 from three different operators). I have no knowledge of how well used these are and how well they connect with the rail services from Kemble.

Presumably the biggest bonus of the proposed scheme is that there will be plentiful car parking at the Cirencester end which may well not be the case with the current bus services. Parking in Cirencester does, in my limited experience, seem to require a second mortgage!

[Bmblbzzz]

though I can't actually find Whiteway Farm on a map.  

I think that may be poor journalism. If you download the scheme document, its authors are from Whiteway House, The Whiteway - which is a road off the A417 to the NE of Ciren (i.e. not particularly near the scheme itself...)

When poor journalism meets assumptions on the part of the reader, the result is error.  

I did find a Railway Covert though.  
http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=400962&Y=199229&A=Y&Z=115

[grahame]

Latest discussions in part of Kemble car park thread at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=462.msg195131#msg195131

Also from the Wilts and Glousester standard

[eightf48544]

Very interesting picture. What's the unit? Looks like a single car Desiro/ Talent/Flirt?

[grahame]

Very interesting picture. What's the unit? Looks like a single car Desiro/ Talent/Flirt?

I don't know what it is.   It says "St Erth for St Ives". I haven't been that far down for many years ... thought it was still mostly 150s 

[patch38]

I believe it's a proposed VLR (Very Light Rail) vehicle. Details here.

[Oberon]

Does anybody know anything about this?

 https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn

[JayMac]

The Facebook log in page?

Or, if already logged in, the top of one's timeline?

[Oberon]

Sorry - this was a story from the Wilts & Gloucester Standard newspaper: -

"EARLY plans to bring a new railway line into Cirencester are steaming ahead after a meeting with top government officials.

The capital of the Cotswolds was buzzing with excitement last week after the Standard broke the news that new track could be laid along the line to Kemble, opening Cirencester to the national rail network for the first time since 1964.

Mayor Mark Harris and Richard and Jane Gunner, of Whiteway Farm, are forging forward with the proposal which would see an ultra-modern, eco-friendly train running the 5km from station to station.

Mayor Harris, who was elected for a second term last week, said he had been "inundated with messages of support for the vision".

"Everyone is incredibly excited about the prospect of reopening the Kemble to Cirencester railway line," he said.

"It is important to stress that at this stage we are looking at carrying out a feasibility study which will address issues such as: is it physically possible? How will landowners be effected? Does it have public support and, crucially, will people actually use it?"

Last Wednesday he went to London to pitch the idea to the Department of Transport in order to get funds for that feasibility study.

The "Dragon's Den-type event" included a panel of Lord Faulkner of Worcester, millionaire and train enthusiast Sir William McAlpine, senior tourism figure Debbie Wells and Mark Garnier MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)."

The phrases "steaming ahead" and "top government officials" do little to inject any optimism into this story, but who knows, somebody on the Forum might be able to shed some light on this.



Edit by FT. N! for a bit of tidying up of fonts.