Fifteen more proposals to reverse historical reductions in the rail network – known as the Beeching cuts – have secured development funding.
Boris Johnson pledged to “restore many of the rail services lost in the Beeching cuts”.
The Government has previously allocated £500 million towards accessing the feasibility of reopening closed lines and stations.
Also on Beeching cuts:
- Reversing Beeching cuts “would cost far more” than £500 million pledge
- Government supports reversing Beeching railway closures
- Bluebell Railway celebrates six decades of world’s most popular line
Ten schemes were given development funding in May, with a further 15 announced on Wednesday in the National Infrastructure Strategy.
Projects to benefit from the latest round of funding include reopening Ferryhill station, County Durham; reinstating links between Bolton, Radcliffe and Bury, Greater Manchester; and restoring the link between Stratford-upon-Avon and the Honeybourne/Worcester/Oxford line.
British Railways chairman Dr Richard Beeching published a report in 1963 which led to the rail network being decimated.
He recommended the closure of more than 6,000 miles of railway and 2,300 stations due to low demand and high costs. This was around a third of the network.
Here are the 15 projects being developed under the Government’s Beeching reversal fund:
- Reopening Beeston Castle and Tarporley station, Cheshire.
- Reopening St Anne’s Park station, Bristol.
- Reopening Ferryhill station, County Durham.
- Reinstating links between Bolton, Radcliffe, and Bury, Greater Manchester.
- Reinstating the Stratford-upon-Avon to Honeybourne/Worcester/Oxford line.
- New stations in Waverley, South Yorkshire.
- A station in the Langport/Somerton area of Somerset.
- Improved services from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
- Improved services from Falmouth, Cornwall.
- Upgrading the South Fylde line, Lancashire.
- Upgrading the Maid Marian line between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
- Reinstating rail access to Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
- Restoring services between Swanage and Wareham, Dorset.
- Restoring the South Humber rail link, Lincolnshire.
- A new link between Consett and Newcastle.
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