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New stations

See Criteria | Campaign targets | Coming soon | Recent successes | Interchanges

New and reopened stations are essential to improve communities' and businesses' access to the rail network, serve new areas of development and respond to changing economic and environmental circumstances. Over the past half-century more than 400 stations have either reopened or been built completely new. They are listed in the sixth edition of Railfuture's A-Z guide to station and line reopenings since 1960, Britain's Growing Railway, published in 2017.

New stations are generally sponsored locally, rather than by central government. Potential sponsors include:
  • Combined Transport Authorities / PTEs
  • Local authority (generally county council or unitary authority, which has the strategic responsibility for transport)
  • Train operator
  • Network Rail
In the majority of cases, new stations are funded by a partnership, such as local authority, train operator and developer. Government support has been available for such an approach through the New Stations Fund since it was launched in 2013. Although not known when there might be another bidding round, the Guidance and supporting documents remain relevant for promoters.
New Station Guidance was published jointly by Network Rail and Highways England on 17 September 2020, concentrating on new parkway stations.

Our Department for Transport-endorsed guide Expanding the Railways: How to develop and deliver a proposal, published jointly in February 2017, will help stakeholders and campaigners navigate the process of gaining agreement to a new station. Earlier guidance was published in June 2009 by the former Association of Train Operating Companies in "Connecting Communities - Expanding access to the rail network".

New stations can be expensive, and recent examples range from £2.2m for a single platform unstaffed station, to £12m for a full length two platform station with overbridge and lifts. This means that they generally require significant numbers of daily journeys if they are to be justified. Meanwhile Network Rail are showcasing Maghull North as an example of how to accelerate delivery.

Potential sources of funding include:
  • Combined transport authorities
  • Developer
  • Landowner, through Land Value Capture
  • Local authority
  • Local Economic Partnership
  • Train operator if a franchise commitment
  • Transport Scotland (in Scotland)
  • Welsh Government (in Wales)

Criteria

  1. New station projects need a business case, a sponsor and funding.
  2. A new station will normally only be considered if it fulfils a new opportunity (such as a housing development or business park) or helps to deal with a transport problem (such as acute traffic congestion).
  3. Location:
    • Accessibility, space for car parking if required and the physical constraints of the site.
    • Proximity to bus routes.
    • How would pedestrians and cyclists access the station?
  4. Operational:
    • What trains would serve the new station? Is there a local service that could stop there, for example, or does the line only carry fast trains?
    • Do the existing trains have capacity for the new passengers, or would more rolling stock be required?
    • Can the timetable be modified to include the additional stop? What effect would this have on turnround times and the rolling stock requirement?
    • Would the signalling be affected? For example, would the new station be close to a level crossing?
    • Is it on a gradient, or a curve?
  5. Planning and consultation:
    • Is a station within the local strategic transport plan?
    • How will it affect the local community?
    • What stakeholder engagement has taken place?
  6. Commercial:
    • What is the likely level of demand? Have surveys been undertaken?
    • Will the new station also abstract passengers from nearby stations?
    • What is the nature of the demand (commuting, educational, leisure?)
    • Could the demand be met more cheaply in other ways?
  7. Value for Money (VfM):
    • Station projects are tested against the Department’s normal appraisal criteria – WebTAG which compares benefits and costs discounted over the life of the project, the benefit:cost ratio (BCR); affordability is another consideration.
Refer in particular to the Guidance note for applicants for the previous bidding round, and complete details of the requirements for a new station, set out in Network Rail's explanation of the New Stations Fund.

Rail Transport for New Homes.
New Garden Communities need new stations to serve them. One example is Heathlands in Kent, west of Ashford; another is Welborne in Hampshire, near Fareham.
Some New Garden Villages are near existing stations and need good connections with them, for example by bus service and quality cycling routes. An example near an existing station is Otterpool Park in Kent, based on Westenhanger served by Southeastern HighSpeed services between Ashford and Folkestone.
"Don't wait for fresh policy to press for sustainable transport to new homes" said Railfuture's Board Director for Infrastructure & Networks in a letter to his professional institute's house magazine The Planner in May 2022.

This interactive map of proposed new stations in Britain shows where they will be located (the most advanced proposals are marked in green, those with more work to do to prove the case in yellow). Meanwhile remain 'upbeat' about prospects with Railway Station!

Campaign targets

Railfuture advocate the following candidates which meet these criteria and are lobbying local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and other organisations to bid for the funding which they need:
In Wales we are campaigning for:
  • Magor - this new 'walkway' station in Monmouthshire would help to reduce road congestion in and around Newport and the eastern side of Cardiff. Railfuture actively support and are represented in MAGOR, the Magor Action Group On Rail.
  • West Wales Parkway, at Felindre, north of Swansea is being advocated; see also Swansea Bay Metro.
In Scotland we have campaigned successfully for:
In January 2020 the Department for Transport launched a new £500m Restoring Your Railway fund, comprising three elements: an Ideas Fund, an Accelerating Existing Proposals category, and a third round of the New Stations Fund. Four new station proposals are among the 10 successful bids to the first round of the Ideas Fund announced on 23 May 2020 by the Transport Secretary. They will receive funding support of 75% of costs up to £50k to help fund transport and economic studies and create a business case; future funding to develop projects is subject to agreement of the business case.
In November 2020 the Chancellor of the Exchequer launched his Spending Review 2020 along with the National Infrastructure Strategy, which in Chapter 2 Levelling up the whole of the UK under Connecting nations and regions re-affirms on page 41 "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 ....." It goes on to say "The government will provide further feasibility funding for an additional 15 proposals to inform decisions on further development, including reopening ....."
and new stations at
The government is also expanding the third round of the New Stations Fund to £32 million. This will fund the opening of railway stations at
  • Edginswell in Devon
  • Thanet Parkway in Kent
  • St. Clears in Carmarthenshire
and also provide funding to further develop proposals for stations at
(Chapter 2, Levelling up the whole of the UK, Connecting nations and regions.)

In October 2021 the Chancellor of the Exchequer launched his Autumn Budget and Spending Review which at para. 4.69 says "In addition to the SR21 settlement, the government will continue to progress with the £500 million commitment to restore transport links previously lost in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. This includes: ... £5 million development funding over the SR period to reopen rail stations in Wellington, Somerset and Cullompton, Devon." and "£650,000 to pay for feasibility work on 13 successful ‘Ideas Fund’ proposals for new lines and stations ... to re-open Corsham station and Stonehouse Bristol Road station."

In June 2022 the Rail Minister issued a Restoring Your Railway update, and announced further development funding for nine rail schemes which entered the Restoring Your Railway programme as early-stage ideas, which have already been supported through the fund to develop a Strategic Outline Business Case and will be progressing further. The schemes are new stations at Meir in Staffordshire, Haxby in Yorkshire, Devizes in Wiltshire, Ferryhill in County Durham, Aldridge station and line upgrade in Walsall, also the Barrow Hill line between Sheffield and Chesterfield, the Ivanhoe Line between Leicester and Burton on Trent, reinstating the Fleetwood line, and the Mid-Cornwall Metro scheme for services between Newquay and Falmouth.

Coming soon

Two short films which between them give a foretaste of most (still not yet all!) of the new stations expected to open to passengers over the next few years: "The next new 21 stations" (February 2023) and "New stations in 2025 and beyond" (May 2023) - with full marks to Geoff All the stations Marshall! As for (still not yet all!) - any mention of Cryws Road, Cullompton, St. Clears, Wellington, Wixams?

On 28 July 2017 the Department for Transport announced the winners of the second round of the New Stations Fund, with a pot of £16m. This provides up to 75% of the cost for construction of five new stations (Bow Street Ceredigion, Horden County Durham, Portway Parkway Bristol, Reading Green Park, and Warrington West) to improve access to the rail network and create new travel, employment and housing opportunities. Two of these (Horden and Warrington West) were included in the shortlist proposed by Railfuture, and Warrington West has been the first of the five to open, on 15 December 2019. Horden, to restore rail access for Peterlee New Town, opened on 29 June 2020. Bow Street is the first new station of 2021, on Valentine's Day! Reading Green Park followed in May 2023, opening officially on the 25th and to passengers on the 27th, with Bristol's Portway Park & Ride completing the five soon afterwards with an official opening on 31st July and its first passengers on 1st August.

In February 2020 the third round of the New Stations Fund was launched, with bids for NSF3 to be submitted by June 2020. In November 2020, alongside the Spending Review 2020, the National Infrastructure Strategy was published which included on page 41 the winners of NSF3 - to open St. Clears in Carmarthenshire (and develop the Deeside project in Flintshire) in Wales, and open Edginswell in Devon and Thanet Parkway in Kent (and develop the Haxby project in York) in England - Thanet Parkway being the first to open, on 31st July 2023:
In May 2021 a further £15 million from the third New Stations Fund was allocated to support three more stations, one in Exeter and two in Leeds which were among four in the West Yorkshire area mentioned in the DfT's November 2017 Connecting people: a strategic vision for rail (page 25, para. 2.43) - Exeter's Marsh Barton being the first to open, officially on 3rd July 2023 and to passengers the following day:
Other new stations which are funded and in progress are:
Whilst London's Tottenham Court Road, Canary Wharf, and Custom House already had stations on the London Underground or Docklands Light Railway, they have joined - and in the case of Custom House re-joined after closure in December 2006 - the national rail network with the opening of Crossrail as the Elizabeth line on 24 May 2022. Bond Street joined them on 24 October 2022, and Whitechapel was already a national rail station since becoming part of the London Overground network in 2010.

Potential new stations are on proposed reopened or new lines, for example:
  • Tavistock (pop.13k) as the principal town in West Devon and part of Devon Metro was understood to be under active consideration by the DfT as part of its Restoring Your Railway 'Accelerating Existing Proposals'. It later became a bid to the third, final round of the Ideas Fund in March 2021. It has been an isolated town since its North station and train services closed in May 1968, and would be re-connected to the rail network at Bere Alston for restored links with Plymouth. Renewed signs of optimism before and during a meeting on 6 April 2022. On 14 November Devon CC announced publication of the latest Strategic Outline Business Case. On 4 October 2023 local MP The Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Cox KC received a reassuring letter from Rail Minister Huw Merriman.
  • Greater Bideford (pop.31k) in Torridge is Devon's and the South West's largest town without its own direct access to rail. It would be served by mainline trains on an upgraded and extended Tarka Line, from Barnstaple station via the Fremington area to new stations at Bideford Gateway (by the A39 Torridge Bridge) and Bideford Town, not replacing the Tarka Trail and avoiding sensitive locations such as Fremington Quay and the tunnel and level crossing at Instow. See speech by North Devon MP Selaine Saxby in Westminster Hall Restoring Your Railway Fund debate on 24 January 2023.
Some other proposed stations include:
  • Castle Bromwich, Coventry East, Tettenhall in the West Midlands.
  • Wedgwood or Barlaston station reopening - the DfT asked bidders to quote, as a priced option, for reopening either in the West Midlands franchise ITT. Technically these Staffordshire stations, south of Stoke-on-Trent, have never been closed, but services at them have been provided by bus since 2003.
  • Doncaster Sheffield Airport Sheffield City Region, Doncaster Council and the Peel Group (owners of Doncaster Sheffield Airport) submitted an outline business case to the Government for a station at the airport on a new loop from the East Coast Main Line. In October 2020 it was turned down by the DfT as it “does not believe that the proposed scheme will deliver value for money in its current guise”.

Recent successes

2023
2022:
2021:
2020:
2019:
2018:
2017:
2016:
  • Edinburgh Gateway station was opened officially on Friday 9 December, with the first trains following on Sunday 11 December 2016. Part of the Edinburgh - Glasgow Improvement Programme to electrify lines, it allows rail passengers travelling from the north to reach Edinburgh airport more easily.
  • Kirkstall Forge, on the line between Leeds and Bradford, opened on Sunday 19 June 2016 to serve a £400m mixed use development of the Old Forge site.
  • Lea Bridge - Railfuture had commissioned a study to make the case for improved services in the Lea Valley including this station. Funded from the first round of the New Stations Fund announced by the Transport Secretary in a Commons Statement, it re-opened with an unofficial ceremony the evening of the timetable change, Sunday 15 May 2016. Monday saw the official opening; see the Railfuture press release.
  • Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park opened on Monday 18 January. Originally announced by DfT in April 2014, work started May 2014, and services were planned to start in June 2015, but construction problems delayed completion and provisional opening dates passed amid controversy over whether Coventry Arena station will be open during events at the stadium. Because the route is currently operated by one-carriage trans they are banned from stopping within an hour of an event ending to avoid overcrowding. Long trains, such as charters, are allowed to pick-up passengers then.
2015:
2014: Pye Corner near Newport opened 14 December, 8 months after work started, with service to Cardiff but not Newport, supported by the first round of the New Stations Fund; in Middlesbrough James Cook University Hospital opened 17 May 2014; Manchester Metrolink light rail station opened 31 March 2014 at Rochdale Town Centre.
2013: Energlyn & Churchill Park - new station opened on 8th December 2013 serving demand for rail travel around Caerphilly, with funding from Welsh European Funding Office; Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway - opened 7 months early on 19 May 2013, adjacent to existing Park & Ride site; Conon Bridge - closed 1960, re-opened 8 February 2013 with services by ScotRail
2012: Fishguard & Goodwick
2011: Armadale, Caldercruix, Drumgelloch (Airdrie - Bathgate line); Buckshaw Parkway, Southend Airport
2010: Dalston Junction, Haggerston, Hoxton, Shoreditch High Street (East London Line Extension); Blackridge (Airdrie - Bathgate line); Sampford Courtenay, Okehampton (summer Sunday service only)
2009: Corby (closed 1966, previously reopened 1987 then closed again 1990), East Midlands Airport Parkway, Imperial Wharf, Laurencekirk, Stratford International
2008: Ebbw Vale Parkway, Llanhilleth, Newbridge, Crosskeys, Risca and Pontymister, Rogerstone (Ebbw Vale line); Alloa, Aylesbury Vale Parkway, Heathrow Terminal 5, Mitcham Eastfields, Shepherds Bush, Stone (services suspended 2004)
2007: Coleshill Parkway (on Birmingham-Nuneaton line), Ebbsfleet International (for international services; domestic services started 2009), St Pancras International, Llanharan
2006: Liverpool South Parkway
2005: Larkhall, Merryton, Chatelherault, Kelvindale (formerly Dawsholm) (Larkhall line reopening); Gartcosh, Rhoose, Llanwit Major, Glasshoughton.

Interchanges

Where lines cross, Railfuture argue for the creation of interchange stations to create new journey opportunities, as for example by the new walkway between London Overground's Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations, opened to passengers on 25 July 2015 and opened officially on 12 August 2015.
There is potential for new or improved interchanges at:
  • Brixton
  • Brockley
  • Dorking
  • Lewisham
  • West Hampstead