Annex B
COALFIELD REGENERATION RAIL SCHEMES: PRIORITIES
IDENTIFIED BY THE COALFIELDS COMMUNITIES CAMPAIGN
The Leamside Line: The SRA's East Coast
Main Line Strategy currently under development is focusing on
short to medium term priorities. The strategy needs to take account
of the current resource constraints faced by the rail industry
and therefore any available investment funds will be focused on
delivering performance improvements and relieving capacity bottlenecks,
both of which are key short term priorities for the railway. For
these two reasons re-opening the Leamside line is not expected
to form part of the strategy as it cannot be delivered in the
short term and is unlikely to be affordable within current funds.
The National Forest Line, East/West Midlands:
I understand that this is the line between Leicester and Burton
and is often referred to as the Ivanhoe Line. Stage 1 of this
project was completed in 1994 and provides a Loughborough to Leicester
local service along the Midland Mainline. Services on stage 1
have operated at a loss (around £300k per annum) since they
began, and have been underwritten by Leicestershire Country Council.
Both the Ml and the West to East Midlands multi-modal studies
examined the case for this line but neither could make a business
case for it. The West to East Midlands study, which reported at
the end of August, recommended as an alternative the introduction
of a new bus service. The West to East Midlands study report is
currently being assessed by the Regional Planning Assemblies who
will comment on its recommendations to the Secretary of State
shortly.
The Robin Hood Line:The SRA has recently
completed the evaluation of a number of schemes in the South Nottinghamshire
area, including some in the former coalfields. The SRA's conclusion
was that, should further funding become available to it, there
may be merit in exploring the business cases for a new station
at Ilkeston and the extension of the Robin Hood Line to Bingham.
However, any further consideration of an extension to Bingham
must first await the findings of the A52 multi-modal study.
Durham Coast Railway: Until the Summer
2003 timetable the SRA provided support via its RPP scheme for
service enhancements on the Durham coast line. However, the SRA
can no longer justify supporting the services because the business
case does not meet with the Authority's appraisal criteria. There
is a further proposal for a scheme to provide new stations at
Ryhope, Easing Colliery, Hart and Old Billingham. However, the
SRA is currently unable to give further consideration to this
due to the moratorium on RPP.
Ashington-Blythe-Tyne: A bid was made
to the SRA for RPP support for this scheme. However, the SRA is
unable to give the scheme further consideration due to the moratorium
on RPP.
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