Railways: Reopenings

Lord Faulkner of Worcester Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Faulkner of Worcester]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for future railway reopenings.

[Lord Faulkner of Worcester]

I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and remind the House of my railway interests declared in the register.

[Lord Popat]

My Lords, the Government recently announced a £20 million new stations fund to support the development of new stations promoted by third parties in England and Wales. The Government have also allocated funding for the reopening of a key part of the strategic east-west rail route in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. We believe that local authorities are best placed to consider whether a rail reopening is the best way to meet local transport needs.

[Lord Faulkner of Worcester]

My Lords, I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box for his first transport Question. He has given the House a positive Answer, which I hope indicates that the pro-rail consensus in this House is in good order. The Beeching report was published 50 years ago this month. Its implementation cut off a third of the network and deprived many parts of the country of access to the railway. Does the Minister agree that one of the most shocking parts of the Beeching legacy was the indecent haste with which so many closed lines were sold off and the land built over, which made their restoration expensive and often impossible? While the Minister’s support for reopenings is good news, will he take a particular look at schemes which run across local authority boundaries and which would bring major benefits, such as the Lewes to Uckfield route and the suburban lines around Bristol?

[Lord Popat]

I thank the noble Lord for his Question and I know he has considerable knowledge of this area. I had the pleasure this weekend of flicking through Holding the Line, his excellent book on Britain’s love of railways, and it touches on the Beeching report. With the benefit of hindsight I do not believe anybody feels that the Beeching report’s legacy is all positive. The noble Lord raises some of the most frequently expressed concerns. Regarding the Lewes to Uckfield line, I know that this is a long-standing campaign supported by many local residents. Network Rail has agreed to carry out a study into the capacity of the nearby Brighton line and the reopening of the Lewes to Uckfield line is one of the options being considered. The department is unaware of any work comparing the benefits of investment in rail schemes and road schemes in this corridor. In instances where proposed schemes go across local boundaries, we will, as always, encourage the authorities to work together.

To sum up the noble Lord’s response to the Beeching report, I had the privilege of looking at the report this weekend. It is fair to say that the author could not foresee how the country would change in the subsequent 50 years. Different times require different responses.