A RAIL campaigner has claimed there are a host of good reasons for reopening a link between York and Beverley.
Engineering consultant David Wells, who is involved in the launch of a York branch of the Minsters’ Rail Campaign this weekend, said a route had been identified which would not involve having to demolish any property.
He said it would involve trains departing from York station on the Scarborough line and then branching off to take a new route across country on the north and east side of the A64 before joining the old route of the line.
He said tram-trains might be used, which would at times allow them to leave the tracks to use sections of road before going back on the rails.
Mr Wells claimed that the A1079 York to Hull road was now one of the most dangerous roads in the country – with 100 fatalities in 25 years – but it had been estimated it would cost three times more to dual it than it would cost to reopen the railway line. “The estimated cost (of re-opening the railway) in 2006 was £180 million, plus or minus 25 per cent,” he said.
“Applying the RPI increases this to around £220 million, plus or minus 25 per cent.”
He said the railway could cater for people who would live in an extra 25,000 new homes which were set to be built in East Yorkshire. It would provide an alternative to using the congested A1079 for people wanting to commute to York or Hull.
He claimed 95 per cent of respondents had backed the campaign when 10,000 people had been consulted.
The York branch of the campaign will be launched at a meeting to be held at 10.30am on Saturday at the Railway Institute in Queen Street.
Campaigners have been battling for a decade to reopen the historic railway between Beverley and York, through Pocklington and Market Weighton, which closed in 1965 following the Beeching Report, but there has never been a York branch before.
Time for rise of the railways
BEFORE Dr Beeching and his swingeing cuts, Britain’s rail network was the finest in Europe. These days isolated villages are no longer served, their tracks have long been sold for scrap and it’s the same story in many market towns.
However, with the environmental agenda increasingly a hymn sheet of choice for politicians, could we yet see resurgence in our railways?
If the proposal to link York with Beverley once more is anything to go by, the answer could be yes. The cost may sound exorbitant, but that should not cloud the issue, because trains are a green, long-term alternative to cars and if we are prepared to spend on wind turbines, shouldn’t the same hold true with railways?
There are caveats, though. Care must be taken to ensure people’s lives and their homes are not affected by any plans to lay new track in the area they live.
And one thing on the railway does cost too much. Unlike on European trains, tickets in this country are expensive and that needs to be campaigned on as forcibly as any scheme to reopen our lines.
If not, the rail renaissance may come off the tracks before it gets under way.
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