Regional News

WESTERN

Corsham: The outline business case for a new station for the Wiltshire town has been submitted to the Department for Transport. The original stop on the Bath-Chippenham line closed in January 1965.

Norton: The building of 5,000 new homes close to Worcestershire Parkway station has brought calls for it to be renamed. The originally intended name of Worcester Parkway was altered to avoid a clash with Worcester Park in Surrey, and now it could become Worcester Norton Parkway.

Taunton: Somerset Council has let the contract to expand the station entrance area, so that buses can be driven into it.

Worcester: Work should start on Shrub Hill station’s new step-free lift in early 2023. The DMU depot is being upgraded, along with Hereford sidings, as part of the Class 196 introduction.

EASTERN

Elsecar: Despite public announcements that the heritage centre is to reopen, the site remained securely fenced off during November. It has been shut for two years.

Harringay: The 300ft 1885 footbridge across the station is to be repaired and reinforced. Other works include the removal of the old ticket office which sits on it, and the installation of new waiting shelters.

Morley: The station could be moved 200 yards further north of the tunnel, as part of the DewsburyCottingley route remodelling and resignalling scheme.

South Hylton: The flood damage to the electric substation is more severe than first thought, and Metro services from Park Lane, suspended on November 17 for a couple of weeks, may not resume until mid-January. A complete rebuild is having to be carried out.

Spalding: Lincolnshire County Council has intervened to save a former railway house from demolition for new housing. Although in poor condition, it will now be renovated, possibly for conversion into low-cost accommodation.

MIDLANDS

Solihull: The £95 million multi-storey car park for the HS2 Interchange station has been formally approved by the local authority. It will have a total of 4,500 spaces.

Wigston: Electrification of the Midland Main Line is making progress towards Leicester. It is expected that all the mast bases will be installed by the summer, with steelwork and wires to quickly follow.

NORTH WEST

Stalybridge: The station will be closed for extensive periods early in 2023, to enable track upgrades and completion of the installation of the overhead wires as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.

Manchester: The Metrolink service through the city centre is returning to normal for the first time since July, following the completion of rail replacement in the Piccadilly Gardens area.

Peak Forest: December 28 marks the 25th anniversary of the withdrawal of the final vacuumbraked wagons on BR. They were bogie limestone hoppers dating back to 1935.

Reddish: The Department for Transport has promised Access for All improvements at Reddish North, on the Manchester-New Mills line, by the end of 2024.

SOUTHERN

Addlestone: A small office and the former gents’ toilets at the station are available for conversion

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Borough High Street: Ornate mosaics promoting the station’s Express Dairy Milk Bar, hidden for decades, have been rediscovered during restoration work.

Hastings: The Old Town funicular has been closed for track repairs.

Salisbury: The first phase of station forecourt improvements has included a new area for 74 cycles and electric charging. It has cost £360,000.

ANGLIA

Dovercourt: The Essex station may be in line for a Railway Heritage Trust grant, to fund improvements to the frontage, repainting, and old-style lighting.

Trimley: A new role needs to be found for the main Ipswich-Felixstowe line station building. Other parts of the site already have potential users.

SCOTLAND

Dalcross: The opening of the new £42 million Inverness Airport station has been postponed from Christmas to “early 2023”, because of snagging issues.

Motherwell: The signalling centre that controls the northern end of the West Coast Main Line is 50 years old this month.

Saltcoats: Listed building consent has been given by North Ayrshire Council to improve the Ardrossan line station waiting room, after sections of the existing building were deemed unsafe and beyond repair.

Wemyss Bay: Money has been found by the Grade A Listed station’s friends group to renovate the 120-year-old clock tower.

WALES

Abergwili: The headshunt at the Gwili Railway station has been moved to create space for new foundations for the former King’s Dock signal box. Construction of the carriage shed may also be started during 2023.

Aberystwyth: The continued delay in introducing the proposed hourly service to Shrewsbury has been raised in the Welsh Parliament by mid-Wales MS and Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds. It was first announced eight years ago, but it will not happen until 2024 at the earliest.

(ITEMS FROM THIS COLUMN 30, 20 AND 10 YEARS AGO)

West Coast Main Line (December 1992): Senior BR passenger chief Chris Green has refused to give a cast iron guarantee that InterCity would not terminate services at Preston after privatisation, and hand over services to Scotland to Regional Railways.

■ Times were hard, and this was evidence that British Rail was having to examine every possible option to balance its books.

Matlock (December 2002): The Thrall Europe wagon works, once part of BREL and due to cease production in December, has attracted interest from other rail users. Infrastructure company Jarvis is in the frame.

■ It didn’t happen. The works have been flattened and the site redeveloped. Jarvis is also no longer in business.

Wisbech (December 2012): Network Rail has renewed the licence to the Bramley line to occupy the trackbed of the disused freight branch to March, while Cambridgeshire County Council has commissioned a fresh survey into the viability of returning it to passenger use.

■ The same old story. We seemed so close, but reopening now sadly seems to have been kicked into the long grass.