The 50 bids made to the second round of Restoring Your Railway ‘Ideas Fund’

The Department for Transport has revealed the full list of the projects that have bid for a share of the second round of the Restoring Your Railway ‘Ideas Fund’.

It was announced earlier on this week that 50 bids across England and Wales had been made to build or reopen lines and stations closed during the Beeching cuts.

It is part of a scheme by the Department for Transport in inviting MPs, local councils and community groups across England and Wales to propose how they could use funding to reinstate axed local services and restore closed stations.

This funding is split into 3 categories to ensure we can support different projects at different phases of development. The 3 categories are:

• the Ideas Fund, to restore rail services (other than rail station creation or restoration)
• accelerating existing proposals, to increase development of a previously submitted rail proposals
• proposals for new or restored rail stations

The list of bids to the second round of the ‘Ideas Fund’ are:

• the North West are:
  • the South Fylde Line Passing Loop
  • Kenyon Junction Station
  • reopening Golborne Railway Station
  • reinstatement of Bolton-Radcliffe / Bolton-Bury
  • reinstating Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station
  • reopening of Midge Hall Station
  • re-doubling of the Mid Cheshire Line between Stockport and Altrincham and associated station reopening’s
  • the Stockport to Ashton Line
  • the Glazebrook Junction to Skelton Junction
  • the East Didsbury to Stockport
• the North East are:
  • Consett – Newcastle Connection
  • Ferryhill Restoration
• the East are:
  • reopening of the Wymondham-Dereham line
  • King’s Lynn to Hunstanton Railway
• Yorkshire and Humber, are:
  • the reinstatement of the Beverley to York rail line
  • the restoration of a daily train service on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
  • the Upper Wensleydale Railway
  • restoring Passenger Rail to the Sheaf Valley
  • restoring a South Humber Link
  • the South Yorkshire Joint Railway
  • a new station at Waverley
• the Midlands are:
  • reopening the Stratford upon Avon to Honeybourne-Worcester/Oxford (SWO) Railway Line
  • increasing stopping services at Radcliffe-on-Trent and Bottesford stations on the Poacher line between Grantham and Nottingham
  • increasing services to Nottingham and Leicester, via Syston and Loughborough from Melton Mowbray
  • reconnecting Ashfield Communities through the Maid Marian Line
• South West are:
  • the Shepton Mallet (Mendip Vale)
  • the Radstock railway reinstatement
  • St Anne’s Park station
  • Primrose Line
  • transforming the Newquay Line
  • Mid-Cornwall Metro
  • the restoring of secondary services on the Great Western Main line
  • Goodrington and Churston Stations
  • a new station for Langport and Somerton area
  • Charfield Station
  • reinstatement of Bodmin to Wadebridge railway and associated works
  • increasing service provision Bodmin General – Bodmin Parkway
  • Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Junction Railway
  • Bristol West Capacity Enhancement
  • Light railway extension to the Barnstaple Branch (Chivenor Braunton) “TawLink”
  • the Cirencester Community Rail Project
  • Project Wareham – Complete the link
  • improvement of railway services at Pilning station, as well as reinstating the footbridge to platform 2
• the South East are:
  • The Arundel Chord
  • the re-opening of Camberwell Station, London SE5
  • the unlocking of capacity and services through Bramley (Hants)
  • the Chinnor Railway Aston Rowant extension
  • the Carshalton Beeches step-free access
• Wales are:
  • the Magor and Undy Walkway Station
  • restoring services on the Anglesey Central Railway between Gaerwen and Amlych

Proposals for the restoration of lines and stations to re-connect their communities will now be considered by an expert panel including Network Rail Chair Sir Peter Hendy, with announcements regarding the successful schemes expected by the end of the summer.

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “Receiving so many bids once again underlines how passionate people are about reconnecting communities.

“Local MPs, councillors and community leaders are the greatest champions of their local lines, and I look forward to working with them to ensure the projects with the greatest potential have the support they need.

“Improving local transport links is vital as we level up access to opportunities across the country, reconnect communities and kickstart our recovery from Covid-19.”

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Photo credit: Nagmar/Shutterstock

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