DRS urges investment for Cumbrian Coast Line
DIRECT Rail Services wants more investment on the ‘long-forgotten’ Cumbrian Coast Line.
New nuclear sites are currently being built along the scenic line, which runs from Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle. However, parts of the line only have one track, which limits the number of freight and passenger services that can use it, as well as the speed at which trains can run.
“The Cumbrian Coast has been a long-forgotten railway. But if you look at the needs and the requirements for that piece of railway over the next 50 years, then it is going to see a massive upsurge and DRS is going to be front and centre in that,” DRS Commercial Director Chris Connelly told RAIL.
“That line needs more capacity. If you look at the projects for building new nuclear stations, projects for Sellafield and the National Grid, then there is a lot for DRS to get involved in.”
Although DRS primarily operates nuclear trains, Connelly told
RAIL the firm is developing a 20-year strategy based around other sectors to supplement the nuclear work, such as charters and lending locomotives to passenger operators.
“That allows us to be quite aggressive in those complementary sectors, and that’s what we intend to do. We intend to be one of the leading rail freight operators in the UK.”
Connelly hinted that DRS would be willing to invest in improvements to the line, but only as part as a consortium: “I think it’s one of those things where different people need to come to the party.
“There’s a lot of growth in the Cumbrian Coast Line, with the energy sector, and absolutely DRS is willing to play its part in that. But I think it is part of an overall part of investment and upgrade,” he said.
He said that as well as upgrading the infrastructure, the line could benefit from longer opening hours. He pointed out that at present it is shut to traffic overnight, owing to the line being controlled from a number of signal boxes up and down the coast.
However, Connelly rebuffed a suggestion that DRS freight trains should be given priority over Northern’s passenger services in exchange for providing investment. Due to late cascades of diesel multiple units from elsewhere in the UK, DRS supplies a number of Class 37/4 and Class 68 locomotives and Mk 2 coaches that operate a limited number of passenger services along the line.
“It’s about looking at freight in partnership with passenger operations,” he explained. “The passenger requirements for the line are clear because the roads around the Cumbrian area will not support the number of people that need to get to work. It’s not freight over passenger, its freight working with passengers.”