Great Central Railway talks about helping to reopen Nottingham counterpart ‘advanced’
TALKS between the Great Central Railway plc, East Midlands Railway Trust and Nottingham Heritage Railway to return traffic between the Midland Main Line at Loughborough and Ruddington were said to be “very advanced”.
As reported in issue 282, the trust launched a £5 million appeal to fund repairs to Bridge 326, which crosses the A60 north of Loughborough, and Bridges 307 and 312 at East Leake.
The trust has suggested that GCR (Nottingham) Ltd, operator of what is now branded the Nottingham Heritage Railway, hand over its lease of the southern 5½ miles of the line to the GCR plc, operator of the Loughborough-based heritage line.
A statement from the GCR plc said: “Contrary to much reported news of friction between some of the parties, it is likely that an arrangement will be reached whereby GCR plc will assist in the management of repairs to those structures and infrastructure requiring major work, thus encouraging the return of freight traffic to the line at the earliest possible date and, subsequent to that, other services.
Reunification project
“A major multi-million-pound project is underway to reunify the line with the southern section of the former Great Central main line which runs from Loughborough to Leicester.”
GCR plc managing director Michael Gough said: “We have a major aspiration to be able to run trains one day from Leicester all the way through to Ruddington and, thus, we have a vested interest in trying as hard as we can to keep the northern section viable until we get there. We will, therefore, provide as much assistance as possible, particularly in the management of major repairs required to a number of bridges and also assisting with the mirroring of GCR plc's safety management systems and rule book.”
NHR chairman Mike Newton said: “Mike Gough, Clive Baines (a GCR plc director) and I have been working very hard behind the scenes for several weeks to get a deal together. We have developed great working relationships and strong personal friendships that will lead to an exciting future of co-operation between all parties. I would like to thank all our volunteers for their patience as we move to a new beginning for the NHR, and we look forward to the opportunities ahead.”