County council adopts idea for new Cheltenham link
AN idea for building a new link between the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (G/WR) at Cheltenham and the main line has been included in a new county transport strategy.
The G/WR’S first chairman Tim Bazeley said that rather than rebuild the original line south from Cheltenham Racecourse station to the site of Cheltenham St James, where there are several gaps in the embankment, a new line could be built across fields between Hunting Butts cutting, south of Cheltenham Racecourse, and the existing Midland main line by Swindon Village.
Tim said that such a scheme could solve parking and capacity problems at the town’s main line station, by providing a new park-and-ride station at Evesham Road, near the racecourse.
If the new link was double tracked, it could also increase siding capacity for race-day specials from Birmingham, London and Bristol.
Gloucestershire County Council has investigated the proposal – and included it in its Rail Investment Strategy.
Tim said that the idea was discussed and agreed in principle by Network Rail, the G/WR, the Jockey Club and Cheltenham borough and Gloucestershire county councils at a meeting held at the racecourse on May 1, 2018. However, he said, since then, nothing had been done to take the strip of land that would be needed to build the new railway.
A county council statement said: “The county council has investigated the possibility of the scheme, and the proposal is included in the Rail Investment Strategy, which is currently being finalised and will be published soon.
“Consultants SLC have analysed the economic value of the various rail corridors through the county and considered, at a high level, a scheme similar to the one proposed by Mr Bazeley.
“We’re committed to making it easier for people to choose greener transport options like rail.”
A spokesman for the G/WR said: “It’s a proposal that we are watching with interest, although not actively pursuing.
“It would need careful planning on race days, given potential capacity issues at our station. However, we have plenty of other priorities to concern us at present, not least being repair of the latest embankment slip at Gotherington.”