National Infrastructure Strategy

[Nicholas Lewis]

Government launches its National Infrastructure Strategy today as part of spending review but my quick skim through shows its just wrap up of all previous announcements.

Continues to commit to

Restoring many of the rail services lost through the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. The government will also deliver on its manifesto commitment to spend £500 million to restore transport services previously lost in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, including reopening the Ashington-Blyth line in Northumberland to passenger services, and restoring
rail links to Okehampton in Devon.

Backing HS2 to deliver essential North-South connectivity, with an Integrated Rail Plan to deliver transformational improvements in the Midlands and the North

OK its a UK wide infrastructure so covers roads, power, flooding as well as public transport but no commentary on electrifying the railways as part of the climate strategy which is big part of the document but emphasises the need to electrify home heating which is damn site more difficult to do compared to railway electrification.

Goes on say there will be an "Integrated Rail Plan" in next three months off the back of this - is that code for the Williams Review?

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for the update

Just to add that if anyone wishes to post their ideas/suggestions for what they think should/shouldn't or could happen, we have an existing thread here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...lines-would-you-propose-for-reopening.194305/ (or freel free to create your own if appropriate)

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Government launches its National Infrastructure Strategy today as part of spending review but my quick skim through shows its just wrap up of all previous announcements.

Continues to commit to





OK its a UK wide infrastructure so covers roads, power, flooding as well as public transport but no commentary on electrifying the railways as part of the climate strategy which is big part of the document but emphasises the need to electrify home heating which is damn site more difficult to do compared to railway electrification.

Goes on say there will be an "Integrated Rail Plan" in next three months off the back of this - is that code for the Williams Review?

No Integrated Rail Plan is NOT the Williams Rail Review it is the integrated rail plan for the north and midlands which is planning to integrated HS2 phase 2b, northern powerhouse rail and other railway commitments together in one plan being produce by the National Infrastructure Commission due to be published by the end of the year (next month).

 

[fgwrich]

This appeared on Twitter earlier, which pretty much backs up the post by Nicholas and what’s been said elsewhere on the forum.

 

[Alfie1014]

And it makes no mention anywhere of rail electrification, even in the decarbonisation section. Plenty of mention of road vehicle electrification and £950M for charging points at motorway service stations and wibble about hydrogen etc..

 

[Cynfal]

So basically a re-announcement of stuff already announced.
Okehampton, welcome though it is, is already connected to the national network so no new infrastructure ( presumably buying the line ).

and £500m to reverse beeching has already been announced I think twice.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

So basically a re-announcement of stuff already announced.
Okehampton, welcome though it is, is already connected to the national network so no new infrastructure ( presumably buying the line ).

and £500m to reverse beeching has already been announced I think twice.

But the bids that have been successful have been revealed

 

[BrianW]

A lot of hot air basically that this or that will be looked at.

Most definite I saw was this, on page 35:

The government is continuing to address capacity issues in the capital, by financing the completion of Crossrail, but has agreed that Transport for London will stop development on Crossrail 2. This frees up investment to raise the performance of public transport networks in the regional cities towards London’s gold standard.

 

[Horizon22]

I always cringe when I see "restoring many of the rail services lost through the Beeching cuts of the 1960s" or similar which is devoid of reality because all you have to do is look at a map and realise many of these alignments no longer exist and/or have been replaced by successful cycle-ways or housing and development.

And "backing HS2" is an odd statement for something currently being built.

 

[brad465]

So basically a re-announcement of stuff already announced.
Okehampton, welcome though it is, is already connected to the national network so no new infrastructure ( presumably buying the line ).

and £500m to reverse beeching has already been announced I think twice.

I know announcing policies repeatedly as "new plans" is a common political strategy to maintain support, but by the definition of "spending review", I would have thought new policies are not meant to be very common, certainly compared to a budget?

 

[WatcherZero]

Bits I picked up on were 'Levelling up Fund' which was £4bn that any council could use to bid for money towards any infrastructure (housing, transport, utilities, etc..)
£9bn infrastructure bank to be based in the North which it seems would operated similar to the PWLB (Public Works Loans Board) except could only be used for infrastructure.
And the first details on the 'Shared Prosperity Fund' the governments replacement for the European Regional Development fund. It would initially be available to the 8 Northern combined authorities and make available a measly £50m next year that could be bid for feasibility studies and then a further £4.2bn infrastructure pot over the following three to four years likely distributed on a per capita basis.

Theyve also closed the loophole on councils using the PWLB to fund investments in property. Now it is expressly forbidden to be used for investments (though as the funds arent ringfenced after councils receive them this cannot be enforced) but to try and force councils to comply they will be required to sign a declaration that they arent planning any commercial investments in the next three years when they are applying for funds.

 

[Mikey C]

What are the plans for Sunderland, as £16m has been provided "to redevelop Sunderland Central Station"?

 

[Ianno87]

And "backing HS2" is an odd statement for something currently being built.

Only Phase 1. Phase 2a needs to attain Royal Assent and then authorisiation of construction, and Phase 2b needs to start the parliamentary process.

So I see that a statement of endorsement that Phases 2a and 2b will carry on development and consents as intended.

 

[Colin Morgan]

Page 41 includes some new announcements from Round 2 of the Recovering Your Fund which includes funding for a feasibility study for restoring railway services between Swanage and Wareham. Locally this is seen as a step forward which will lead onto Swanage Railway obtaining the relative small amount required to move forward from trial services to a fully established service.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Page 41 includes some new announcements from Round 2 of the Recovering Your Fund which includes funding for a feasibility study for restoring railway services between Swanage and Wareham. Locally this is seen as a step forward which will lead onto Swanage Railway obtaining the relative small amount required to move forward from trial services to a fully established service.

Out of interest is this a SWR service or a heritage service they are planning to run between Swanage and Wareham

 

[theironroad]

Page 41 includes some new announcements from Round 2 of the Recovering Your Fund which includes funding for a feasibility study for restoring railway services between Swanage and Wareham. Locally this is seen as a step forward which will lead onto Swanage Railway obtaining the relative small amount required to move forward from trial services to a fully established service

Out of interest is this a SWR service or a heritage service they are planning to run between Swanage and Wareham

The excerpt above seems a bit vague as obviously the Swanage Wareham link is fully functional.

Even moving from trial to established service is uncertain from what I recall.

Will a Swanage run fully establshed service run in the morning and evening peaks to allow people to travel to work in Poole/Bournemouth and Southampton?

Even with those peak trains, the 25mph restriction won't make the journey time very attractive.

As much as I admire, and understand, the wishes for Swanage to run the Wareham connection, if Swanage is truly to be reconnected (in service provision) to the national network it needs improved line speeds, regular services from early morning to late evening.

Only then will people see it as a viable alternative to using their car to commute to work or evenings out in Poole/Bournemouth etc. That really needs the principal TOC involved, and tbh SWR need to be providing the service.

 

[Mollman]

And it makes no mention anywhere of rail electrification, even in the decarbonisation section. Plenty of mention of road vehicle electrification and £950M for charging points at motorway service stations and wibble about hydrogen etc..

I'd much rather it had money for rail electrification feasibility studies than for reopening lines which are no hopers or will just undermine perfectly good bus services (e.g. Consett - Newcastle)

 

[WatcherZero]

Governments released a video on it now:

And a list of 15 round two bid winners awarded up to £50,000 for feasability studies.

Reopened lines and new passenger services, Melton Mowbray - Nottingham	East Midlands	2
Reopened lines and new passenger services, Alfreton - Ashfield (Maid Marian Line)	East Midlands	2
Reopened lines and new passenger services, Stratford Upon Avon - Honeybourne - Worcester/Oxford	West Midlands	2
Reopened lines and new passenger services, Consett-Newcastle	The North East	2
New Station at Ferryhill, Ferryhill - Stockton-on-Tees	The North East	2

Enhanced existing passenger services, Preston - Blackpool South	The North West	2
Reopened lines and new passenger services, Bolton-Radcliffe / Bolton-Bury	The North West	2
New station at Beeston Castle and Tarporley, Crewe - Chester	The North West	2

New Station at St Anne's Park, Bristol Temple Meads - Bath Spa	The South West	2
Enhanced existing passenger services, Truro - Falmouth	The South West	2
New Station at Langport and Somerton, Castle Cary - Taunton	The South West	2
Reopened lines and new passenger services, Kemble - Cirencester	The South West	2
Reopened lines and new passenger services, Wareham - Swanage	The South West	2

Reopened lines and new passenger services, Gainsborough - Barton	Yorkshire and Humberside	2
New Station at Waverley, Sheffield - Chesterfield	Yorkshire and Humberside	2

 

[HowardGWR]

I don't think St Annes Park is in Brislington. You would get a bus from the first to get to the second. Brislington Station was on the North Somerset line and was reasonably central to Brislington, although a bit 'out of sight' down a side road.

 

[jonesy3001]

How are they going to enhance the Blackpool south services are they going to put in a loop or redouble the track?

 

[TBY-Paul]

It's interesting that Ferryhill Station is described as "New Station at Ferryhill, Ferryhill - Stockton-on-Tees", does this mean that any new station would be on the Stillington line and not the ECML? Would it be a terminus station? And how would a Ferryhill station tie-in with the NPR/Transport for the North announcement regarding re-opening Leamside.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

How are they going to enhance the Blackpool south services are they going to put in a loop or redouble the track?

I'm pretty sure I recall from when this was discussed on railforums earlier in the year that the plan is to put in a passing loop to allow a more frequent service.

Oddly, the map in the video linked in post #18 shows a complete route from Preston to Fleetwood via Blackpool South. I'm pretty sure that's a mistake and is not part of the plans (amazing though such a service would be )

 

[Horizon22]

Stratford - Honeybourne is going to need a tunnel under the A4390 presumably.

 

[moggie]

So basically a re-announcement of stuff already announced.
Okehampton, welcome though it is, is already connected to the national network so no new infrastructure ( presumably buying the line ).

and £500m to reverse beeching has already been announced I think twice.

Just do a search for 'rail' in the document and not only will you read of stuff mentioned by various bits of government previously but you'll also find the same content repeated time and again in the document itself. Anyone might think they were padding it out to make it look like classic rail has lots of new investment.

Of the 'Beeching' reinstatements how many are funded beyond feasibility studies I ask - especially where reinstatement of the permanent way is required?

 

[jonesy3001]

I'm pretty sure I recall from when this was discussed on railforums earlier in the year that the plan is to put in a passing loop to allow a more frequent service.

Oddly, the map in the video linked in post #18 shows a complete route from Preston to Fleetwood via Blackpool South. I'm pretty sure that's a mistake and is not part of the plans (amazing though such a service would be )

They might need to move some of the overhead wires to put the junction back in at poulton and probably reverse at kirkham if it does happen.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

They might need to move some of the overhead wires to put the junction back in at poulton and probably reverse at kirkham if it does happen.

True. But pretty small beer compared to the need to build a new link (presumably, partly tunnelled) between Blackpool North and South if it did happen as shown in the map!

Actually I think that video was put together in a bit of a hurry. Aside from the obvious mismatch between sound and picture in the bit of Grant Shapps, a few seconds in, it shows the lines that Beeching closed - including apparently, the line from Hastings to Ashford! I suspect some people here could have a lot of fun looking for other - shall we kindly say - idiosyncracies

 

[Wychwood93]

The excerpt above seems a bit vague as obviously the Swanage Wareham link is fully functional.

Even moving from trial to established service is uncertain from what I recall.

Will a Swanage run fully establshed service run in the morning and evening peaks to allow people to travel to work in Poole/Bournemouth and Southampton?

Even with those peak trains, the 25mph restriction won't make the journey time very attractive.

As much as I admire, and understand, the wishes for Swanage to run the Wareham connection, if Swanage is truly to be reconnected (in service provision) to the national network it needs improved line speeds, regular services from early morning to late evening.

Only then will people see it as a viable alternative to using their car to commute to work or evenings out in Poole/Bournemouth etc. That really needs the principal TOC involved, and tbh SWR need to be providing the service.

The higher speeds would need a costly Safety Case, which, as I understand it, is why the Swanage Railway has not gone down that road. Perhaps the DfT and SWR could bear the major part of the cost with the Swanage chipping in as they will also benefit. Get the up bay at Wareham reopened for a steam shuttle from Swanage to Wareham. SWR services would have to be 158s at the moment - not sure if they are cleared for passenger use up from Wareham.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

The higher speeds would need a costly Safety Case, which, as I understand it, is why the Swanage Railway has not gone down that road. Perhaps the DfT and SWR could bear the major part of the cost with the Swanage chipping in as they will also benefit. Get the up bay at Wareham reopened for a steam shuttle from Swanage to Wareham. SWR services would have to be 158s at the moment - not sure if they are cleared for passenger use up from Wareham.

Don’t SWR already run between Wareham and Corfe Castle whatever stock they used then could surely be used for this new service, if they run it.

 

[MarkRedon]

The list of slightly-funded propositions - previously-announced round 1 and newly-announced round 2 - can be seen at https://assets.publishing.service.g...ring-your-railway-successful-bids.csv/preview:

Restoring your railway: successful bids Updated 26 November 2020

There are no details on any of the proposals.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Nov 2020 ==

Cornwall County Council has published what is effectively a single-tender contract to Network Rail to develop what is being called a Mid-Cornwall Metro Enhancement Scheme between Newquay and Truro:

Mid-Cornwall Metro Enhancement Scheme

A development services agreement with respect to the ‘Mid-Cornwall Metro Enhancement Scheme’ to to develop infrastructure enhancement options aimed at supporting an increase in train services on the Newquay Branch, extending services on to the Cornwall Main Line and on to the Falmouth Branch line. This work will be carried out with Network Rail’s signalling renewal project in Cornwall throughout its control period 6 providing an opportunity to maximise efficiencies if this project can be delivered at the same time.

https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:N...+Real+Estate&WT.rss_a=511765-2020&WT.rss_ev=a

 

[camflyer]

It's interesting that Ferryhill Station is described as "New Station at Ferryhill, Ferryhill - Stockton-on-Tees", does this mean that any new station would be on the Stillington line and not the ECML? Would it be a terminus station? And how would a Ferryhill station tie-in with the NPR/Transport for the North announcement regarding re-opening Leamside.

A new station at Ferryhill would be great for the redevelopment of the area. My dad was from the town and it was a thriving place in the 60s but pretty much dead now.

The main problem with the proposal is capacity for an extra stop for a stopping service on the ECML. More info on the options here: https://railfuture.org.uk/Ferryhill+Station