FINALLY!!! - A government U-Turn on Beeching's Axe.

[#1]

I don't know how many of you have seen this evenings ITV new. but the current administration are apparently now in favour of the idea of reopening many of Dr Beechings Axed railway lines. They interviewed a lady who used to work at the ticket office on a line who said she had no idea why they were closed down because they were always so busy. 50 years later she's on TV expressing joy at the idea of being able to get on a train at her station again.

The Guv'ment are apparently taking this idea pretty seriously now though no money has been identified to undertake such a huge task. Still, this just goes to show that without the EU poking its nose into all of our affairs, when we need to rely on ourselves to get the job done our MPs suddenly start to turn back towards reality in order to keep their own gravy train running

I think we're heading back on track

EDIT: Link - http://www.itv.com/news/2017-11-29/rail-network-reopen-lines-beeching/

[#2]

@7up   Yeah... just been reading about it on the Daily MIRROR newspaper site...  think it will be a long time before any trains actually run, cos the track and signalling stuff needs to be renewed first...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/forgotten-railway-stations-could-reopen-11606704

 ( thought it was the Express ! ! ! .. ( no pun intended )...

so steamed off to confirm... ....

and then edited this post  to mirror  (! !  )  that 

[#3]

Not only renewed, but expanded. I don't see how busy city termini will cope with more trains, and surely therefore introduction of new lines' services will mean reduction in services on the existing.

It may sound silly, but could this idea be for a post Brexit depressed Britain to provide work?

[#4]

This is a far better idea than the money pit fiasco that is HS2.

At least It would benefit local travellers instead of just the ex Concorde passengers that will travel on HS2.

[#5]

@Luzern I don`t think the lines mentioned in the linky,  are associated with "main termini"  They appear to me, to be short "link lines" that run in country areas,.... not checked the actual routes, but from what the report says, it sounds like they were short lines across the country from east to west, as opposed to the general run of lines into and out of London( north south)

[#6]

I would definitely use the train instead of the car to go into town from our home in the middle of nowhere, if they reopened the old station site just across the road.

It would only cost maybe £100, for some posts, a railing, and a pot of paint, to get it looking as good as it did back in the glory days of the 1920s.

It's possible that I still see that same cart being pulled past my house several times a week, as the local landowner exercises their horses pulling a restored cart just like that, sometimes giving visitors a guided tour of the village.

[#7]

Hardly ever use the train but increases in most fares are usually well above the inflation rate and some commuters spend thousands on season tickets with no guarantee of a seat or even a train arriving on time.

There are some small rail services in various parts of the country that offer tickets at a reasonable price but most of these services are run by volunteers.

So without massive investment I cannot see how a new rail system can be built and run at a profit, I think railways in most other countries are run direct by the government at a loss.

[#8]

I'm not sure that putting back rails to accommodate ordinary trains is necessarily the solution.

If the closed branch lines were reopened with maybe a light monorail, or something more like like a driverless bus on some sort of track, following the original path of the disused railways, then perhaps the running costs would be lower than reintroducing full size trains.

Where I am, the bigger problem would be rebuilding all the railway bridges that were destroyed to avoid ongoing maintenance for the disused structures.

[#9]

Yeah,.... those blown up railway bridges, were a double edged sword..... blow it up.... no more maint costs... also ensures that the line will not be reopened... so can sell of the trackbed down to the next blown up bridge...

. Ostriches Bean counters at work...  !

no thought for the future...

[#10]

No money to fund this, means nothing will happen.

No wait, let's get it moving by adding a 20% rail regeneration levy on diesel....

[#11]

@AlaricAdair

Correct there is no money to fund it, just one of those political soundbites that appeals to the public but will never happen.

The country is already billions of pounds in debt, add a further 50 billion plus for the EU and it's hard to see overall debt decreasing anytime soon.

I suspect most people would consider as a priority a increase in their wages, a good health service, schools and other services before money was spent on a loss making railway system.

Has any country got a rail system that makes a profit ?

[#12]

@gleneagles  Japan ....

http://www.industrytap.com/japanese-run-profitable-sustainable-train-system/27390

And they even publicly apologise when the train leaves TWENTY SECONDS EARLY  ! ! ...

[#13]

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shutter wrote:

@Luzern I don`t think the lines mentioned in the linky,  are associated with "main termini"  They appear to me, to be short "link lines" that run in country areas,.... not checked the actual routes, but from what the report says, it sounds like they were short lines across the country from east to west, as opposed to the general run of lines into and out of London( north south)

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@shutterI think the examples given were selective to draw interest. Not all were short link lines. Rugby Central of the Great Central, and Bath Green Park of the Somerset & Dorset were lengthy routes linking large conurbations. How room could be made in those locations would be a big problem, and whether the track bed along the route was sufficiently free, I have doubts. BTW I specifically avoided mention of London in the earlier post on purpose.

[#14]

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gleneagles wrote:

@AlaricAdair

Correct there is no money to fund it, just one of those political soundbites that appeals to the public but will never happen.

The country is already billions of pounds in debt, add a further 50 billion plus for the EU and it's hard to see overall debt decreasing anytime soon.

I suspect most people would consider as a priority a increase in their wages, a good health service, schools and other services before money was spent on a loss making railway system.

Has any country got a rail system that makes a profit ?

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Something that you are forgetting is that Theresa May has a very special talent... she can shake the magic money tree which apparently doesn't exist!

[#15]

@7up

Thought the money tree statement applied more to Corbyn than May.

Remember the offer to make university courses free ? Or the many other proposals made by the Labour party.