No Wareham trains for 2024 and beyond
ANY FUTURE Swanage Railway services to and from Wareham “would require a subsidy” the railway has said, as it announced that it would not be running trains over its link with the national network in 2024 and beyond.
The ‘Purbeck Line’ ran trial services over its reinstated link to Wareham for 60 days in 2017 and 90 days in 2023, with the initial trial using West Coast Railways motive power, rolling stock and crews; last year’s trains used Swanage’s own Class 117 and Class 121 DMUs. Despite being “operationally successful”, the trains “did not deliver commercially and any future service to Wareham would require a subsidy so it could operate,” said Swanage Railway Trust chairman Frank Roberts.
He added: “We appreciate the disappointment this may cause to people in the Isle of Purbeck. During the two-year trial, our Wareham train ticket prices reflected the additional costs of running over the national railway network into Wareham while not detrimentally affecting the fare structure of our important steam and diesel heritage train services between Norden, Corfe Castle, Harman’s Cross, Herston, and Swanage. The 2023 trial heritage train service to Wareham was operated against the background of the Government underwriting reduced price £2 tickets for bus journeys in England.”
Purbeck Community Rail Partnership chairman and Swanage town councillor Mike Whitwam said: “We are very disappointed that Swanage Railway will not be running a regular service between Swanage and Wareham for the foreseeable future. There clearly needs to be substantial financial investment from an outside source.
“As an organisation committed to improving the Purbeck transport infrastructure, we will continue to lobby the Government for the revenue support that’s desperately required by Swanage Railway to provide a muchneeded passenger service.”
Running services over the full length of the Swanage branch to Wareham has been a long-held ambition for the ‘Purbeck Line’, which was formally reconnected to the national network in 2015. Although the railway will not be running its own trains over the main line connection, it will still be used for incoming railtours.