Swanage Railway Reconnection To National Network - Decision Time

It looks like it will be down to Dorset County Council to come up with the £3 million guarantee to fund the Worgret Junction resignalling work. A decision will be taken at a full council meeting on 22nd July. I don't know if it is the kind of meeting where members of the public can contribute to the debate. If so I suggest that anyone in the area who would like to see the reconnection go ahead pops along to the meeting and throws in their two pennyworth! I cannot get there because I'm in Essex.

See the link below for the full article.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8259739.Hopes_high_for_Swanage_rail_reconnection/

Cheers,
Nigel

 

It amazes me that the government wont support small projects like this,the benefits are there for all to see if this goverment is serious about green issues then projects like this should be given the money.

Lets hope common sense prevails at the meeting in July

 

Hmm... Government supporting anything that will actually cost money in the present climate......

 

Whilst as an enthusiast I support this, one of the comments on the article makes a good point - if public money is going to be involved then maybe the railway needs to offer something in return such as cheap local travel.

 

..but it isnt the railway that's asking for the money; though they support it, given the cost (and financial risk involved) running trains to Wareham is a seperate project being persued by the Purbeck Rail Partnership.

Chris

 

Much as I would hate to see the Swanage railway lose its mainline connection, its hard to see that the council tax payers of Dorset will see it as £3m well spent.

 

We've been through this on a previous thread but Network Rail will have to include maintaining the existing type of arrangements - i.e. capable of use on an occasional basis - as part of the resignalling unless the users of the connection agree to its removal - which they presumably won't. All that will change is how the Worgot Junction Ground-frame is release (currently a key from Wareham 'Box from what has been said previously).

The scheme is to allow regular services on to the branch on the basis of several a day, presumably all year round. This could be a very much "two edged sword" for the Swanage - it should grow usage but will probably mean that it there is a cheaper diesel service that passengers can use to get to Swanage, and will obviously provide potential capacity problems that may mean fewer steam trains in the peak.

However, as the Council are Swanage's landlords, the Railway has little choice but to support the project.

Steven

 

I emailed Richard Drax MP on the 17th June to highlight the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to ask if he had been in contact with the Department for Transport about it. I received an email from his office around a week later asking for my postal address which I emailed across on the 23rd June. I haven't heard anything since, either by post or email.

Anyone interested in this story will find the following of interest which relates to a meeting held on 1st July 2010:

See section 5.2 in this...
http://planning-purbeck.dorsetforyou.com/pdf/PHC 010710 TRANSPORT.pdf

and the two appendices referred to are here...
http://planning-purbeck.dorsetforyou.com/pdf/PHC 010710 APP (PART1) TRANSPORT A.pdf
http://planning-purbeck.dorsetforyou.com/pdf/PHC 010710 APP (PART2) TRANSPORT.pdf

The first appendix is a response from (then) MP Jim Knight. The second appendix is a response from the DfT back in March 2010 which makes for depressing reading, containing as it does the killer statement:

"The Government has set out its priorities for the next few years which centre on improvements to reliability, safety and capacity and focus on the existing franchised passenger network rather than the opening or reopening routes [sic] such as the Swanage Branch."

That was the previous administration's view on the matter. It is a shame I have not had an answer from Mr. Drax to indicate if the new administration is more favourable to the idea. I should add that Mr. Drax no doubt has many other issues to deal with, and as I am not one of his constituents my enquiry must take a lower priority than those received from others who are.

Cheers,
Nigel

 

Throughout much of Europe, local rail services have been revolutionsed by being specificed and funded locally - the franchises are funded and let by regional Government, and for a number of years there have been signs that the British Governemnt would like to do the same.

In theory, this is great and would benefit schemes like the Swanage regular service - BUT the central Government motive here, as with many other policy areas, appears mainly to be off-loading cost from the centre to the regions. The idea cannot work in the UK in the same way as, say, France (where local involvement has rescued many services from the neglect caused by SNCF being TGV obsessed) because the same central Government is opposed to giving any real power, or the necessary funding, to the regions.

Against this background, Worgot Resignalling could be seen as a test case for the whole country and if Dorset CC do fund it, expect to see "fund it or loose it" become the norm for the more remote and regional parts of England's rail network. At best, there will be no centrally funded improvements or possibly even major repairs.

As Scotland and Wales have shown (as well as Europe), local control works but only when the necessary powers and money is also devolved to the regions to make it work.

Steven

 

I am not sure if this would be possible, but would it not be a good idea to organise an online petition to be sent to DCC from the members of Nat Pres? I would not have any idea how to go about this myself, but I wonder if Admin would be able to organise this if he thinks it is a good idea. Not long to go, so we would have to act fast.

 

Trouble is, now that fairyand has gone and suddenly we/they are living beyond our/their means, the good council tax payers of Dorset will see £3 million as money that might repair a few dilapidated schools, keep open some old folks homes, or save retained fire stations from closure etc etc ......

 

I don't think a petition from the likes of us (!) would do any good. The decision should be taken on the basis of what Lord Adonis said last year. After his visit to the railway on the 14th April 2009 he said there was "strong local support" and that "since the track is all there and the business case is promising, the proposal is highly credible."

http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/news515.htm

 

Spotted this today on BBC Dorset:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/10570572.stm

I think that pretty much knocks out any hope of the money coming from Dorset CC. Mind you, I wonder, what if Network Rail postpone the Dorset area re-signalling as a cost saving...?

Regards,

Dan

 

Then Worgret Junction ground frame remains controlled from Wareham rather than Bournemouth.

 

From a distance (of around 40 miles!) I am full of admiration for the Swanage Railway putting the desire to be a "real" railway once more ahead of preservation considerations. This sometimes hypothetical debate has surfaced previously on other railways (eg would the Lavender Line oppose the reinstatement of the Uckfield to Lewes line or the Spa Valley Line the reinstatement of Eridge to TUnbridge Wells Main). I have always felt that a real rail enthusiast would always prioritise their line serving its original purposes over running a "nowhere to nowhere" preserved service given a chance.
This connection does offer the possiblity of a real hybrid railway but I share the concerns of posters above. How could any minister or councillor justify this expense when school projects in the county have been cancelled for lack of funding?
There is just one other final thought - if commercially viable oil shale (or even a new oilfield) is found in Purbeck the Furzebrook terminal could reopen which would justify the reconnected link at a stroke while new pipelines are constructed.

 

Is there any sort of firm proposal yet on what sort of through service will be provided if and when the junction is resignalled ? What sort of service would the Swanage Railway wish operate to Wareham for instance ? Would it be of value to local residents or just for bringing visitors to Swanage ? It might be quite hard to sell to local residents/ratepayers if all that is on offer is just a bit of signalling, with no really tangible benefit such as improved services.

In some ways the situation is similar to the WSR, where the junction has already been resignalled, but where it has proven very hard to come up with a viable proposal for through running to Taunton. The best bet seems to be a short (low cost) extension of the Cardiff-Taunton local service to Bishops Lydeard when the GW franchise is next renewed. Has SWT shown any real interest in such a service to Swanage - and is this someting that the Swanage Railway wants ? How would it be funded ?

 

As for the question of spending £3 million on the resignalling project against other options - the resignalling project is perceived as bringing income into the area and the amount contributed to the local economy will greatly exceed the initial £3 million cost over time. If you spend the money on something else, once it is gone it is gone with no possibility of cost recovery over time.

Apologies if this reads badly. It's late!

 

Just spotted this news report from Wednesday 14th July...

http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/8270742.print/

See the URL for the whole article, brief extract below:

"Members of Dorset County Council’s cabinet deferred their decision on an application for the money until their next meeting later in July because they needed more information about costs.

Coun Spencer Flower said: “We need to make our decision on sound judgement and not make these sort of decisions blindly.”

Coun Robert Gould said he thought it was a good idea but was concerned about the £3million and potential future costs of bringing the track up to standard and running the service."

 

The Swanage connection was a question in the survey on transport in the local area that I completed at the end of last month. I hope this will then feed into any decision that Council makes with regard to funding.

 

Well, today's the day for the meeting (22nd July allegedly - couldn't find the agenda on the DCC website) so if anyone pops along or hears anything please post here first!