Regional News

What‘s happening in your area?

EASTERN

Halifax: The sixth busiest station in West Yorkshire is in line for a £ 6 million reconstruction, including a new two- storey main building and footbridge, a pedestrian and cycle link to the eastern side of the railway and the Hebble Trail, and better car parking.

Hunmanby: A private sponsor has commissioned a 6ft square replica North Eastern Railway tile map to be installed at the Hull-Scarborough line station. It will complement originals at Whitby, Scarborough and Beverley.

Pool- in- Wharfedale: Sections of the former North Eastern route from Burley ( a former junction on the Leeds- Ilkley route) to Otley are earmarked for conversion into a footpath that will eventually run to Ilkley. Sustrans has been invited to carry out a detailed design and feasibility study. Pool station closed in March 1965.

Queensbury: A plaque may be unveiled to honour ten navvies who died during construction of the disused 1.4- mile Great Northern Railway Queensbury Tunnel, which was begun in 1874. There is an ongoing campaign to reopen it for public use. NORTH WEST

Mytholmroyd: Northern’s new station car park doubled up as a defensive wall in late January to prevent flood water overflowing into the town from the nearby River Calder.

Standedge: A major bottleneck on the ManchesterHuddersfield route was eased 150 years ago on February 12, with the opening by the London & North Western Railway of a second ( single-track) tunnel. Three miles and 57 yards long, the structure has been disused since 1970. Recent consideration into its re- use is out of favour because electrification should provide the double- track 1894 tunnel with the greater capacity needed.

Stockport: The lofty viaduct is to receive brickwork and drainage repairs at a cost of £1 million. It is the structure’s first major overhaul for 30 years. SOUTHERN

Ash: Acute road congestion at the level crossing at the Reading- Guildford line station will be reduced by its replacement by a bridge over the next two years.

Bridport: There has been strong local interest in reviving the line from Maiden Newton ( closed in 1975). The promoters are active on Facebook.

Waterloo: The wooden W H Smith kiosk from the main concourse is being restored as part of a £ 500,000 revamp of the Station Hall at the National Railway Museum in York. It needs major work, as does Terence Cuneo’s 1967 painting of the London terminus, which was damaged in a 2014 mishap at the museum. ANGLIA

Leiston: The Government appears to have gone cold on providing a rail connection to the new Sizewell ‘C’ nuclear power station, even though the scheme featured strongly in the original plans. Railfuture’s formal objection to road transport will be considered in 2021.

Greater Anglia: The 63 ‘ Secure Stations’ on the operator’s books offering high standards of safety and security ( working with British Transport Police) are: Althorne, Audley End, Billericay, Bishop’s Stortford, Brimsdown, Broxbourne, Burnham- onCrouch, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Cheshunt, Clacton- on-Sea, Colchester, Colchester Town, Diss, Elsenham, Ely, Enfield Lock, Great Chesterford, Great Yarmouth, Halesworth,

Harlow Town, Harwich International, Hatfield

Peverel, Hertford East, Hockley, Ingatestone,

Ipswich, Kelvedon, Lea Bridge, Lowestoft, Manea, Manningtree, Marks Tey, Newport, North Fambridge, Northumberland Park, Norwich, Ponders End, Rayleigh, Rochford, Roydon, Sawbridgeworth, Saxmundham, Shelford, Shenfield, Southend Victoria, Southminster, South Woodham Ferrers, Stansted Airport, Stansted Mountfitchet, St Margaret’s, Stowmarket, Thetford, Thorpe- le-Soken, Tottenham Hale, Waltham Cross, Ware, Whittlesea, Whittlesford Parkway, Wickford, Woodbridge and Wrabness.

Rye House: Greater Anglia’s Hertford- Broxbourne line station has a new waiting room. The former open shelter has been replaced with a new facility that provides seating, air- conditioning, free WiFi and CCTV.

LONDON

Elephant & Castle: Public consultation has revealed overwhelming support for the proposed Bakerloo Line extension, and onwards to Lewisham and Hayes. Opinions are split on the locations of two stations planned along the Old Kent Road - perhaps to be named Burgess Park and Asylum.

King’s Cross: According to new figures,

King’s Cross St Pancras was the busiest London Underground station for the third year running in 2019 with 88.3 million users, followed by Victoria ( 85.5 million), Waterloo ( 82.9 million), and Oxford Circus ( 78.1 million). The least used was weekendonly Kensington Olympia with just 109,000, well below Roding Valley ( 405,000), Chigwell ( 525,000) and Grange Hill ( 652,000).

Mayfair: The Grade 2- listed home of Lord Ashfield (1874-1948), the first chairman of London Transport, is for sale. Close to Hyde Park, it has seven bedrooms and an asking price of £16.5 million.

Waterloo: The shutdown of the Waterloo & City Line since March last year is likely to continue until at least April, because of low demand. However, Transport for London says it can be reactivated at relatively short notice. The down time is being used to improve the train fleet.

SCOTLAND

Alford: A volunteer group is appealing for Crowdfunding cash to revive the Alford Valley Railway, a narrow- gauge line that shut in 2018 after concerns over the condition of the track. It is laid on a section of the former Great North of Scotland branch from Kintore on the Aberdeen- Inverness route. Levenmouth: December 2023 remains the target date for the first services over the reopened 5½ - mile line from Thornton Junction. Devegetation of the old alignment is almost complete.

Nairn: A second redundant room at the station is to be turned over to community use.

WALES

Cardiff: Full plans were submitted in late January for the new £120 million, four- platform Cardiff Parkway station to serve the 160- acre Hendre Lakes business district on the eastern site of the city. It could be completed as early as 2023 and cater for more than 800,000 passengers by the end of the decade.

DREAMS AND REALITY…

( Items from this column from 30, 20 and 10 years ago)

Salisbury ( February 1991): Electrification west of Exeter is unlikely to be considered until around 2010. BR believes the arrival of Class 159 DMUs is a satisfactory medium-term improvement.

■ The ‘new trains’ are now 30 years old, with no announcement of plans for their replacement. However, the reinstatement of passing loops has significantly improved service reliability.

Cheltenham ( February 2001): The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has realised one of its main ambitions to reconnect the track to its new southern terminus at Racecourse station.

■ At least someone achieved something tangible in a year when there was of lots of talk, but little action. There is now a desire to re- establish a main line connection over a new alignment, to avoid new- build obstructions. Newcastle ( February 2011): The Government has indicated that £14.5 million is available for reinstatement of the passenger service over the Blyth & Tyne route with new stations at Ashington, Bedlington and South Newsham.

■ See Network News, pages 8- 9