Reopen Penrith to Workington via Keswick

[HSTEd]

There was still a major chemical complex at Whitehaven until the 1980s, that probably made a significant contribution to keeping the line open.

Sulphuric acid, cement, phosphate fertilisers and similar products, using the mine that is planned for coal production (it is historically an anhydrite mine).

 

[daodao]

Whitehaven to Barrow has the particular advantage that the Furness Railway built a (relatively) direct line where the roads were and are circuitous

There are no longer any regular bus services between Whitehaven along the coast as far as Barrow-in-Furness, with Millom one of the largest settlements in England to have no scheduled bus routes. Therefore, the passenger rail service along this route is essential, and has been improved in recent years to run approximately hourly Mon-Sat and now on Sundays too.

By contrast, Keswick has excellent bus services, including on Sundays, which are increased during the summer season, so doesn't need a railway line; the bus services provide connections to existing rail lines at Carlisle, Penrith and Windermere. Re-opening the Penrith to Workington line via Keswick (or even just the Penrith-Keswick section) would be a futile waste of a large sum of money, like all proposed rural rail re-openings. The examples of successful "rural" re-openings quoted by protagonists of this re-opening, such as Exeter-Okehampton and Edinburgh-Tweedbank, are really commuter rail lines into significant cities.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There are no longer any regular bus services between Whitehaven along the coast as far as Barrow-in-Furness, with Millom one of the largest settlements in England to have no scheduled bus routes. Therefore, the passenger rail service along this route is essential, and has been improved in recent years to run approximately hourly Mon-Sat and now on Sundays too.

By contrast, Keswick has excellent bus services, including on Sundays, which are increased during the summer season, so doesn't need a railway line; the bus services provide connections to existing rail lines at Carlisle, Penrith and Windermere. Re-opening the Penrith to Workington line via Keswick (or even just the Penrith-Keswick section) would be a futile waste of a large sum of money, like all proposed rural rail re-openings. The examples of successful "rural" re-openings quoted by protagonists of this re-opening, such as Exeter-Okehampton and Edinburgh-Tweedbank, are really commuter rail lines into significant cities.

But surely that's the answer to whether you would close one of them were they both open now (and I don't think you would close either if they were; certainly there are no credible suggestions to close the Windermere branch which is comparable).

If neither existed, both would likely have some sort of bus provision.

If Keswick's railway was still open, the bus provision would likely be weak or nonexistent.

The X4/5 is basically a "Beeching bus" descendent.