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List of Beeching cuts service reopenings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Beeching cuts were a reduction in the size of the British railway network, along with a restructuring of British Rail, in the 1960s. Since the mid-1990s there has been significant growth in passenger numbers on the railways and renewed government interest in the role of rail in UK transport. Some closed stations have reopened, and rail passenger services have been restored on a few lines where they had been withdrawn.

Some former British Rail lines have become heritage railways, for example the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, which reopened in stages from 1960.

Completed reopenings

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The reopened Borders Railway in Scotland
Closed lines now converted to light rail operation for Manchester Metrolink
Closed line converted into a guided busway – the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
Closed line converted to a heritage railway at Great Central Railway (Nottingham)

London

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South East

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South West

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  • Stations reopened include Ashley Hill closed in 1964 was reopened in 2024 as Ashley Down, Ashchurch, Cam and Dursley, Feniton, Pinhoe, Templecombe and Yate.
  • Service between Swindon and Trowbridge ceased in 1966 but two passenger trains each way were reinstated in 1985, along with the reopening of Melksham station. Passenger numbers rose rapidly, and the service – now increased in frequency and known as the TransWilts Line – was extended to Westbury.
  • Regular passenger services between Yeovil Junction and Yeovil Pen Mill were withdrawn in 1968; a limited service was reinstated in 2015.
  • A summer Sunday service ran from Exeter to Okehampton from 1997 to 2019, with a full daily service reinstated in 2021.

East Anglia/Lincolnshire

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  • Needham Market, closed in 1967, was reopened in 1971; Soham, closed in 1965 was reopened in 2021; and Watlington, closed in 1968, was reopened in 1975.
  • Peterborough–Lincoln line: the section between Peterborough and Spalding closed to passengers on 5 October 1970 and reopened on 7 June 1971.

East Midlands

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  • The Robin Hood Line in Nottinghamshire, between Nottingham and Worksop via Mansfield, reopened in the early 1990s. Since closure in 1964 Mansfield had been the largest town in Britain without a rail link.
  • Stations at Syston, Sileby and Barrow-upon-Soar between Leicester and Loughborough closed in 1968 reopened in 1994.
  • The Kettering to Manton Jn Line via Corby closed to passengers on 18 April 1966. A shuttle service between Kettering and Corby was introduced in 1987, but the service was unreliable and lost funding support from the local council, leading to its closure in 1990. The line was then reopened on 23 February 2009 with Corby served by direct trains to London and a limited number of trains continuing on towards Oakham and Melton Mowbray.
  • Alfreton, Langley Mill and Ilkeston stations on the Erewash Valley line have since been reopened.
  • Dronfield (closed 1967 reopened 1981), Matlock Bath was closed in 1967 and reopened in 1972, Narborough was closed in 1968 but reopened two years later, Peartree was closed in 1968 and reopened 1976, Tutbury and Hatton was closed in 1966 and reopened in 1989, Willington was closed in 1968 and reopened in 1994, Wigston Glen Parva was closed in 1968 and replaced with a new station South Wigston in 1986 on an adjacent site.

West Midlands

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North East/Yorkshire

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North West

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North and Mid Wales

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South Wales

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Scotland

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Heritage railways

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Further proposals

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In 2022, proposals being pursued included:

  • East West Rail, restoring passenger services between Bicester and Milton Keynes, expected to reopen in December 2024. Future plans are to build a new railway between Bedford and Cambridge using part of the original alignment closed in 1968 and reopening of the line between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Claydon Junction.
  • Passenger service on the Portishead Railway stopped in 1964; plans are to reopen it from Bristol to Portishead, possibly in 2028. Freight services ceased in 1981 (unrelated to Beeching) and resumed on part of the line in 2002.
  • Camp Hill line, West Midlands, Birmingham New Street to Kings Norton: service planned to reopen in 2024.
  • Stourbridge Junction to Walsall line: planned to open part as Midland Metro.
  • Henbury Loop as a branch line from Filton Abbey Wood to Henbury, as part of the MetroWest project in the Bristol area, due to reopen in 2026
  • Newcastle to Ashington,[3] known as the Northumberland Line project. Planned to reopen December 2024.
  • Charfield station, South Gloucestershire, proposed to reopen in 2027.

In November 2017 the government announced plans to reverse some of the cuts made in the 1960s, and later cuts by British Rail, to restore lost capacity and introduce new routes to help with new housing or relieve congestion.[4][5][6]

In December 2018, the Department for Transport confirmed that it was investigating a number of proposals to restore old lines in addition to plans to improve Heathrow links, reinstate stations on the Camp Hill line in the West Midlands, reopen the Northumberland Line to passengers and build a new station at Cambridge South.[7]

"Restoring Your Railway" (2020)

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In January 2020, the Department for Transport announced a £500 million "Restoring Your Railway" fund and asked MPs, local authorities and community groups to make proposals to reinstate local services and reopen stations.[8] The government also announced £1.5 million towards plans to reopen the Northumberland line,[9] £100,000 towards assessment of the Fleetwood branch line, and £20 million for a third round of the New Stations Fund.[3]

The £500 million would not be spent on building railway lines but on developing proposals through feasibility studies, business cases and designs.[10] Proposals for projects would be sponsored by a local MP, gather local support, and then be put to a panel of experts chaired by the Rail Minister.[8] Examples given were:

  • upgrading a freight line to provide passenger services and restoring stations on it
  • restoring track and services to an old alignment
  • modifying an old route which has been built over.[8]

Successful proposals would receive funding to develop their business case, which would be submitted to the Department for Transport in a bid for more substantial development funding.[8]

In April 2020, the Department for Transport stated that unsuccessful proposals would receive help from the department so they could improve their proposals for a later round of ideas. At the same time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department announced a third round of ideas for November 2020.[11]

In May 2020, the department announced that ten schemes had been successful in the first round of bidding:[8]

In November 2020, the department announced that fifteen further schemes had been successful in the second round of bidding, as well as the restoration of rail links to Okehampton:[13]

In November 2020, the department announced that five schemes had been successful in the New Stations Fund 3:[13]

In October 2021, the third and final round of successful bids were announced,[15] taking the number of schemes accepted for further feasibility studies to 38.[16]

The first project to be completed under the "Restoring Your Railway" banner was the 15½-mile Dartmoor line from Crediton to Okehampton, where services resumed on 20 November 2021. The line had closed to passengers in 1972 but had been operated as a heritage railway from 1997 to 2019. Nine months of work by Network Rail included laying 11 miles (17 km) of new track.[17]

Closure of the scheme (2024)

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Following the change of governing party after the July 2024 general election, new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (Lab.) said that projects in the Restoring Your Railway programme that had not commenced would be cancelled, as part of her Commons announcement on 29 July which aimed to reduce national public spending. Reeves revealed that no money had been spent during the current financial year for any of the schemes that were announced as Restoring Your Railway competition winners in 2021, while £76 million had been allocated for 2024–2025.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ SPT News Archived September 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "'Truly historic': John Swinney opens new Leven station in a win for 'local community'". The National. 29 May 2024. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Government pledges £500 million to bring back historic rail lines, improving connectivity for communities across the country". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Connecting people: a strategic vision for rail" (PDF). GOV.UK. Department for Transport. November 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  5. ^ Ellis, Mark (28 November 2017). "Rail boost for Britain by reopening lines axed in the 1960s". Mirror. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  6. ^ Topham, Gwyn (28 November 2017). "Rail services lost under 1960s Beeching cuts may reopen". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  7. ^ White, Mark (26 December 2018). "Axed rail routes may be reopened under new Department for Transport plans". Sky News. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Restoring Your Railway Fund". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 23 May 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ Sharma, Sonia (28 January 2020). "How plans to re-open Newcastle to Ashington railway line could boost region". North East Chronicle. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  10. ^ "£500m fund to help restore Beeching rail lines". BBC News. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  11. ^ Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund: round 1 update Gov.uk 27 April 2020
  12. ^ a b "Restoring your railway: successful bids". Department for Transport. 26 November 2020. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021.
  13. ^ a b "National Infrastructure Strategy" (PDF). GOV.UK. HM Treasury. November 2020. p. 41. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  14. ^ "50m of rail improvements in Cornwall approved". Railnews. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Restoring your railway: successful bids". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 27 October 2021. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  16. ^ Horgan, Rob (28 October 2021). "13 more abandoned railways and stations backed by DfT for restoration". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  17. ^ Kennedy, Catherine (12 October 2021). "How engineers restored the abandoned Dartmoor railway line in just nine months". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  18. ^ "Chancellor statement on public spending inheritance". GOV.UK. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.