A rail rethink

With the reopening of the Dartmoor line 50 years after closure and with the Department for Transport’s resolution to restore and open railway lines closed in the Dr Beeching era is it about time to have a rethink on relaying the still much missed Hayling Billy line from Havant to Hayling Island.

The government has recently spent billions of pounds on the failed Track and Trace for Covid, could it not have spent just a few million of that money on reopening railway lines?

The biggest project to Hayling would be crossing Langstone Harbour of course but with modern engineering I am sure the gap could be narrowed.

The use of massive boulders that are now used for sea defences or even the gabion cages filled with rocks could be used to close either end of the gap and a shorter bridge could then be put in place.

I am not an engineer by any means but have spoken to such people and they say it is a possibility.

Even if it were laid like the tramways in Manchester and Sheffield, etc, the line could pass down Staunton Avenue opposite where the former South Hayling station was located or pass through West Town and terminate at the fairground perhaps.

The whole system would be run on overhead pick-up wires thus it would be clean to run.

No doubt the crossing of the Havant Road would be a problem as the old style level crossing used to hold up traffic no end even in the days when there was far less traffic than today.

The gates had to be closed some minutes before an the approaching train crossed.

But it could work in the reverse. A train/tram would come to a halt at the road, barriers would then drop, the train would cross over the road and the barriers raised, perhaps just a minute or so of road closure. I know the former line is now a walkway but I am sure the line could be relaid to one side with a fence alongside making it safe for walkers. It would not be a hundred miles an hour line after all.

A former railwayman’s dream perhaps, but I am sure it could be done if the government were will to push it along.

Robert W Hind Purbrook Way, Havant