Reopened railway would find good use

I’D like to add my twopenn’orth in support of the recent letters in the Derby Telegraph advocating the reopening of the Monsal Trail railway.

Tunstead Quarry, near Buxton, is huge, extracting up to 6 million tons of limestone aggregate per annum. Its current railhead transports the limestone northwards only, so a reopening of the line would facilitate southbound rail freight too, taking thousands of lorries off the roads.

In the harsh winter of 2010/2011 the east and west coast mainline railways were closed simultaneously, so a north-west to south-east rail line connecting Manchester to London via Derby might have been invaluable.

The line would run through the Peak District, which attracts circa 30 million visitors annually, some of whom would surely travel by train if this was available.

When the reopening of the line was mooted 20 years ago, the cost was estimated at £100 million. This will doubtless have risen but will still be a drop in the ocean compared to HS2.

Paul Gibson, Darley Abbey