DfT decision on Island Line future deferred for three months

By Phil Marsh

THE Department of Transport has extended a deadline for South Western Railway’s (SWR) plan to transform the operation of the Island Line on the Isle of Wight (IoW).

One of the franchise conditions of SWR taking over the loss-making Island Line was to work with the Isle of Wight Council and Isle of Wight Steam Railway, as official stakeholders, to identify a way of reducing losses while modernising the 8½-mile line.

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This condition, called the ‘priced option’, was submitted to the DfT by the deadline of May 31, 2018, with an announcement from the DfT due by December 31, 2018 as to the way forward.

Read more in the February 2019 issue of The RM – on sale now!

**Unit No. 483008 slips away from Ryde St John’s for Shanklin on January 25. PHIL MARSH**

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