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Restoring Your Railway

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Okehampton station platform 3 on reopening day with mid afternoon departure to Exeter. Photo 2 of 3 of a charter train promoted by SENRUG to campaign for a passenger service on the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne railway line whilst travelling. Photo by John Brierley with permission via Dennis Fancett.
Left photo of Okehampton on first day of Dartmoor Line services, 20-11-2021; right photo of SENRUG Charter 2008 at Bedlington on the Northumberland Line route by John Brierley.

Railfuture campaigns to reconnect people to work, education and a social life via a bigger rail network. The government continues to demonstrate its commitment to rail through its Restoring Your Railway initiative, launched in January 2020 following a Railfuture campaign launched less than two years earlier, with The Dartmoor Line to Okehampton opening to the public on 20 November 2021 after its official opening by the Transport Secretary and the Chair of Network Rail on 17 November, the Northumberland Line being implemented for opening in Summer 2024, a new station for Golborne, Wigan fully funded, The Waterside Line in Hampshire and new stations at Wellington (Somerset) and Cullompton (Devon) progressing to development with further funding in the Autumn 2021 Budget (page 111, para. 4.69), 36 other successful bids to the Ideas Fund announced, and development of 9 schemes funded in June 2022.

Register your support for Restoring Your Railway

As the the Transport Secretary said, "Entries have been specifically judged on their ability to deliver real economic benefits and support left-behind communities, with investment targeted at regenerating local economies by: supporting new house developments, opening up access to jobs and education, boosting tourism." If you want lines and stations reopened to achieve these worthwhile benefits please register your support for our campaign.
See also Guidance for promoters.

Oxford Metro

Author: Nigel Rose - Published Sat 27 of Feb, 2021 18:36 GMT - (3744 Reads)
Oxford has ambitions for remodelling the station with additional platforms, and introduction of metro-style services in the area around the city, including to Cowley, Witney and John Radcliffe Hospital.

Reopening campaign success

Author: Chris Page - Published Sat 23 of Jan, 2021 11:40 GMT - (4394 Reads)
Over thirty years of Railfuture campaigning has culminated in success with the award of £794m by the government to construct and reopen East West Rail between Oxford and Bletchley, and to rapidly progress the plan to reopen the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Ashington. Clearance work on the mothballed section west of Swanbourne. Image by East West Rail/Phil Marsh.

Reconnect 1 million people

Author: Chris Page - Published Fri 04 of Sep, 2020 19:48 BST - (5978 Reads)
Twelve awards have been made so far from the Restoring Your Railway fund. Railfuture has identified a further 30 submissions which have the potential to deliver worthwhile benefits. If implemented, these 42 proposals would together reconnect over one million people to work, education and a social life via the rail network. The Chronicle Live reported a petition to bring the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington. Photo of Tyne and Wear metro train at Ilford Road station by Klausness, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Waterside special

Author: Tony Smale - Published Mon 03 of Aug, 2020 23:31 BST - (4133 Reads)
On 28 July 2020 South Western Railway ran a special 'fact-finding' train to Fawley to mark the successful submission to the Department for Transport’s ‘Restoring your Railway Fund’ by Hampshire County Council, and approval by the New Forest National Park of the plan for up to 5000 new homes at Fawley. Left to right, SWR managing director Mark Hopwood, Network Rail chairman Peter Hendy and Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris ready to board the train at Southampton. Image by South Western Railway.

Money for Ideas

Author: Chris Page - Published Thu 28 of May, 2020 20:10 BST - (5067 Reads)
The country may be in dire straits at the moment, but fortunately the government is pressing ahead with its Restoring Your Railway initiative by announcing the ten successful bids in the first round of the Ideas Fund on 23 May 2020. A common factor of the successful bids, if delivered, is that they will connect significant numbers of people to the rail network. Ilkeston Station was successfully reopened in 2017 – after 40 years of Ilkeston being the largest town in England without any train service. Image supplied by Ilkeston Advertiser.

Rail reopening fund

Author: Chris Page - Published Mon 14 of May, 2018 20:05 BST - (9058 Reads)
Railfuture have linked with the Campaign for Better Transport to deliver a letter to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling calling for a Network Development Fund to pay for project development of realistic proposals for new and reopened stations and lines with the best projects joining a pool of national projects to be taken to full development and implementation. Photo: Railfuture media spokesman Bruce Williamson at the Department for Transport with the letter to hand in.

Expanding the Railways

Author: Chris Austin and Chris Page - Published Wed 05 of Jul, 2017 18:34 BST - (10122 Reads)
This new guide was launched today. ‘Expanding the Railways’ will help local authorities, developers and communities develop plans for adding new stations and lines to the network.

There are other reopening projects already in progress and Railfuture is campaigning for new rail lines to be opened, to increase capacity, connectivity and resilience in the strategic network by creating alternative routes between major centres, to provide additional metro services for our growing cities, and to connect isolated towns.

New stations

As new communities and business locations are created, and established communities aspire to less-congested and carbon-intensive travel choices, so new and reopened stations are needed to serve them and extend access to the rail network.

Restoring Your Railway timeline

Key announcements about the government initiative.


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