Staged reopening of Cheltenham - Stratford

[PlexiDriver]

Hey bit of a long one but thought I'd go to town

STAGE A
Opening of a train/tram style tram service from Cheltenham Spa to former St James' Square in Cheltenham. This takes into account the former alignment of the railway to St James' but also extends it to match better with the modern day realities of Cheltenham.

I've marked the two additional stations in white, Malvern Rd and Royal Wells Rd.

This would be quite easy to accomplish with very little demolishing, if any, to current infrastructure. The most expensive part would be the 560m stretch between Jessops Road (nr the Waitrose) and the terminal end Royal Well Rd.

I believe a stop at Malvern Street would be a great halfway house between the two - although it may be easier to just have a two stop shuttle between the two that provides a regular, fast, reliable link to the town centre.

Likely cost of this section: £20-25m (laying new tram track and stations being offset slightly by the ready made ground for most of the route)




STAGE B
Cheltenham Spa to... Cheltenham Spa

Again this is a rather 'easy' section to complete, although it will require more in the way of infrastructure to build. It encompasses the route from Honeybourne Way to the current heritage railway station of Cheltenham Spa. This would allow the line to run completely through the Broadway 12 miles away.

It would be supplemented by the completion of a station in Bishops Cleeve. This would give residents of the town access to a rail link to mainline Cheltenham Spa (GWR) and therefore (if Stage A was completed) access to Cheltenham town centre. It will likely cost somewhere in the region of £4-8m as it would be situated on the north side of Station Road and would be required to be wheelchair accessible.

Major parts of the process include the upgrading of the Millennium Bridge, or likely the demolition and rebuild of a new rail bridge. This is likely the reason this link hasn't already been completed and would likely see the need for central government to provide some of the funding for what would likely be a £10-15m outlay for a two track bridge replacement.

However I see this as the reason for the Staged implementation of the project. The tram project will provide a much needed income stream to help support the creation of this endeavour.

Likely cost of this section: £20-25m



STAGE C
Broadway to Stratford-upon-Avon

This is the most complicated and fundamentally the most expensive. This would have the advantages of provided a much needed second route to the south-west of the country, that will ideally take some pressure from the mainlines.

It would be split into Stage C1 and Stage C2

Stage C1 would be run Broadway, the current terminus of the heritage railway to Honeybourne Junction, re-establishing the connection through the area. While also connected the railway to the still present rail track in the direction to Stratford-upon-Avon.



Stage C2 would follow an old alignment across and up towards Long Marston, before using a 1.04km section of new alignment to avoid a congregation of 'new' offices and company buildings.



This would then follow the old alignment which is still intact until it reaches the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon. Unfortunately, the hardest part of this project would be the remodelling of the road system on approach to Stratford station. A 500m stretch of road between the two roundabouts makes this a difficult project which would require the remodelling of some of the roads within Stratford. Meaning this would certainly need central funding to go ahead. Which is why the case for it would need to rest on adding an additional route and therefore making the regions lines more robust.



Once connected it would allow a new rail connection between Birmingham and Bristol and connecting areas that desperately need additional public transport. What makes it a contender in my view is the ease with which would can connect large areas of it, with only some sections such as the Honeybourne Way bridge, refurbishment of Stannells Bridge and Stratford's roundabouts being the biggest obstacles.

Overall, across a decade or so the project would likely be in the region of £70-90m, but with central government funding, grants and loans, it could be achieved in a staged way so as to make each part a self contained business case.

Let me know what you think! And a quick disclaimer that the costs are VERY rough, based on equivalent station costs, costs per km of track in similar areas, pre-existing track being "up to standard" which likely not all of it would be.

The government rejected the case in 2022, but I feel it would produce tangible benefits and allow for an increase in population that the area is already experiencing. (Also as a final side note, I don't live there!)

 

[The Planner]

£140 million? Good luck....

 

[zwk500]

I'll ask my usual question of lines like this - would you propose linking Cheltenham to Stratford (or any of the envisioned through services) by train if there wasn't previously a railway there?

When you talk of 'remodelling' roads you mean either closure, or cut/cover tunnelling one way or the other to get it done. I'd treble your original estimate (at least), and then allow for that price to double by the end of the decade so multiply it by a sliding scale depending on how quickly you think you can build which parts. The market for this is tiny, and even if it did only cost £150m then it would be very unlikely to justify such an enormously disruptive outlay.

 

[islandmonkey]

£140 million? Good luck....

£140 million × 10...and then some...

 

[30907]

I wonder what the GW(S)R - whose route I presume you are taking over? - would have to say? And I don't quite see how a tram-train from Cheltenham to Stratford creates a new through route from Birmingham to Bristol - have I missed something?

 

[PlexiDriver]

I'll ask my usual question of lines like this - would you propose linking Cheltenham to Stratford (or any of the envisioned through services) by train if there wasn't previously a railway there?

When you talk of 'remodelling' roads you mean either closure, or cut/cover tunnelling one way or the other to get it done. I'd treble your original estimate (at least), and then allow for that price to double by the end of the decade so multiply it by a sliding scale depending on how quickly you think you can build which parts. The market for this is tiny, and even if it did only cost £150m then it would be very unlikely to justify such an enormously disruptive outlay.

Oh of course not. It is only feasible for the price because of the ground work from the previous railway. That why it would help so significantly.

So by remodeling I mean removing the current road and expanding another road nearby for the same sort of use. There are two or three contenders for this thankfully, but it is for sure the most costly and difficult part of the entire venture.

Often with government cost analysis there is very little emphasis placed on growth return. So the fact it exists attracts people and businesses who in turn use the facilities which increases income and allows for upgrades. In my opinion that would be an over time benefit and part of the reason for the staging. £150m is a low end estimate for sure, but not out of the bounds of other proposals of similar scale.

I wonder what the GW(S)R - whose route I presume you are taking over? - would have to say? And I don't quite see how a tram-train from Cheltenham to Stratford creates a new through route from Birmingham to Bristol - have I missed something?

I would probably suggest they be the company to operate the service to begin with, or to be bought out entirely, which would, again, increase the cost.

Oh and sorry, I did specify, tram-train was only for the brief section from Spa to central. Just so that it can use that core section that the other stages would also use with full trains

 

[30907]

Oh and sorry, I did specify, tram-train was only for the brief section from Spa to central. Just so that it can use that core section that the other stages would also use with full trains.

So trains could run from Birmingham via Stratford to Cheltenham "Waitrose" but not beyond to Bristol?

ISTR a previous thread suggesting a link through open country from Racecourse to the main line around Swindon Lane (which doesn't access central Cheltenham though).

 

[PlexiDriver]

So trains could run from Birmingham via Stratford to Cheltenham "Waitrose" but not beyond to Bristol?

ISTR a previous thread suggesting a link through open country from Racecourse to the main line around Swindon Lane (which doesn't access central Cheltenham though).

I meant to say I didn't specify by the way! Haha.

Nah so the train-tram from Cheltenham Spa would run, using the same rails to Cheltenham 'Central' but the trains that ran through from Stratford would not stop at the tram services.

Basically a straight shot between Bishops Cleeve and Cheltenham Spa.

 

[zwk500]

I meant to say I didn't specify by the way! Haha.

Nah so the train-tram from Cheltenham Spa would run, using the same rails to Cheltenham 'Central' but the trains that ran through from Stratford would not stop at the tram services.

Basically a straight shot between Bishops Cleeve and Cheltenham Spa.

Out of interest, did you have a rough service pattern in mind for this?

 

[PlexiDriver]

Out of interest, did you have a rough service pattern in mind for this?

Likely to start with it would be a low level service pattern. Depending on how useful the line was for freight as well.

I'm not mathematical haha! But something to fit in with passing loops to begin with.

 

[The Planner]

Likely to start with it would be a low level service pattern. Depending on how useful the line was for freight as well.

I'm not mathematical haha! But something to fit in with passing loops to begin with.

Struggling to find a use for freight. Avoids the Lickey, but its tenuous at best.

 

[zwk500]

Likely to start with it would be a low level service pattern. Depending on how useful the line was for freight as well.

It wouldn't have any use for freight, unless the line via Bromsgrove was blocked.

I'm not mathematical haha! But something to fit in with passing loops to begin with.

This proposal is being done backwards. You address issues like passing loops and so on once you've established what service level you need, and you can only do that if you have establish what traffic you are serving.

 

[SynthD]

I think it needs to be a single route with a more purposeful end. Connect the Gloucester Warwickshire railway to the mainline, if the terrain is compatible, from the A345 by the racecourse to the Swindon Lane level crossing. At the other end of the current GW line add a similarly short length to a Broadway town station. There’s no bay at Cheltenham so make it a Gloucester-Broadway service. If it went to the future Long Marston planned town it could live up to the name as that is in Warwickshire.

 

[zwk500]

I think it needs to be a single route with a more purposeful end. Connect the Gloucester Warwickshire railway to the mainline, if the terrain is compatible, from the A345 by the racecourse to the Swindon Lane level crossing. At the other end of the current GW line add a similarly short length to a Broadway town station. There’s no bay at Cheltenham so make it a Gloucester-Broadway service. If it went to the future Long Marston planned town it could live up to the name as that is in Warwickshire.

If you are trying to serve this kind of traffic, why bother with the faff of buggering up the heritage operation and just build an Aschurch (or maybe a bit further north like Eckington)-Evesham line, Running Gloucester-Cheltenham-Ashchurch-Evesham-Honeybourne-Long Marston? Far easier, yes you'd need a new trackbed throughout but that's actually a comparatively low problem. Serves bigger population centres and preserves intact the heritage line, who's operating department would presumably not be particularly keen on operating significant new chunks of line.

 

[SynthD]

you'd need a new trackbed throughout but that's actually a comparatively low problem.

Is it?

Gloucester-Cheltenham-Ashchurch-Evesham-Honeybourne-Long Marston

A new curve at Worcester Parkway would achieve this, though it may include an embankment and bridge over a road.

I wasn’t planning on the heritage railway continuing. It returns to NR, it’s a Beeching reversal (regardless of when it closed). That line is more direct, but that may be pointless if people of Broadway are Stratford oriented and have little interest in Gloucester.

 

[zwk500]

Is it?

Yes, you'd need to dig the original trackbed out just as thoroughly, and in places the original trackbed has been built over anyway.

A new curve at Worcester Parkway would achieve this, though it may include an embankment and bridge over a road.

True, exactly where you put 'A' and 'B' would need to be determined, but it'd avoid the need to tear up a useful cycleway through Cheltenham and a major road in Stratford.

I wasn’t planning on the heritage railway continuing. It returns to NR, it’s a Beeching reversal (regardless of when it closed). That line is more direct, but that may be pointless if people of Broadway are Stratford oriented and have little interest in Gloucester.

Stop and think. If the people of Broadway aren't Gloucester-Orientated then what, in the name of sanity, is the reason for buying out the Heritage operation and spending hundreds of millions of pounds returning a basket case of a line to the national network while simultaneously destroying a valuable tourist asset?

 

[Bald Rick]

150m is a low end estimate for sure, but not out of the bounds of other proposals of similar scale.

I‘m afraid it’s a long way out of the range of other proposals that are being built. For tram lines, look at Wolverhampton (£50m for 700m) and Edinburgh (£200m+ for 5 km). And they both have things like depots, control centres, power supplies, etc already built.

Then for main line look at EWR : £30-£40m per km on an existing route with no electrification In a similar part of the country.

Getting through Stratford is going to be very difficult, as previously explained on similar threads. That alone would be well north of £150m.

Can’t see this proposal being less than a billion.

 

[The Planner]

What is the goal of this anyway (and don't say resilience)? If Long Marston gets a station its going to connect to Honeybourne and thats it.

 

[SynthD]

If the people of Broadway aren't Gloucester-Orientated then what, in the name of sanity, is the reason for buying out the Heritage operation and spending hundreds of millions of pounds returning a basket case of a line to the national network while simultaneously destroying a valuable tourist asset?

Yes, I don’t see either plan happening. Bringing a tourist asset back into NR use isn’t destroying it, a heritage railway hasn’t become the superior use of it.

 

[PlexiDriver]

It wouldn't have any use for freight, unless the line via Bromsgrove was blocked.

This proposal is being done backwards. You address issues like passing loops and so on once you've established what service level you need, and you can only do that if you have establish what traffic you are serving.

It would have use of building extra capacity into the network. I mean that's what the business case said 10 years ago.

It would be a useful line for sure, and I definitely don't think it's top of pile in the UK for reopening. But there is clearly a market for it.

 

[SteveM70]

Bringing a tourist asset back into NR use isn’t destroying it, a heritage railway hasn’t become the superior use of it

Maybe not superior, but certainly more viable

 

[Bald Rick]

It would have use of building extra capacity into the network. I mean that's what the business case said 10 years ago.

It would be a useful line for sure, and I definitely don't think it's top of pile in the UK for reopening. But there is clearly a market for it.

But nowhere near a big enough market to pay for it, either in cash or social benefit.

 

[zwk500]

It would have use of building extra capacity into the network. I mean that's what the business case said 10 years ago.

If that's the best the business case can come up with, they really were grasping for anything to show for the case.

It would be a useful line for sure, and I definitely don't think it's top of pile in the UK for reopening. But there is clearly a market for it.

Would it? Even assuming you can get the Stratford problem resolved, it's hideously indirect even for local journeys and anybody with access to a car will drive even if you could get half-decent train timings. I'm all for reopenings but not when it gets rid of something useful and replaces it with an empty Turbo once an hour.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Stratford's doable - you'd have to grade-separate the Evesham Road roundabout but you could just about squeeze a single-line formation through.

It's a pretty marginal economic case though. AFAICT it mostly relies on through trains to Oxford/London via the Cotswolds, and you could get most of the benefit with much less expense by reinstating a service via Banbury. There's some regional connectivity benefits too (connecting Stratford, the Vale of Evesham, Worcester) but they're small beer.

South of Honeybourne the case is weaker still. There's very little through journey potential - partly because Birmingham–Cheltenham is so fast that medium/long-distance journeys are always going to be faster with a change at Birmingham. So you're left with Bishops Cleeve (population 14k) and Winchcombe (a massive 4.3k) as traffic generators, and that might work at a pinch if you still had the trackbed through Cheltenham and could reopen a town centre station, but you probably don't. Northern Winchcombe to the far-flung outpost that is Cheltenham Spa is not going to win many passengers off the bus.

 

[zwk500]

Stratford's doable - you'd have to grade-separate the Evesham Road roundabout but you could just about squeeze a single-line formation through.

Interesting definition of 'doable'. Apologies for the rough thumbnail but you barely have the space on the cycle track for the elevated section (especially construction, you'll need a monumental crane to reach over far enough in the constrained space), and then on the south side you have to take out 2x semi-detached dwellings (so 4 houses total) and a set of garages, and likely the block of flats they belong to. And that's within 126m from the roundabout to the Sanctus Road overbridge, which even if the railway went under the roundabout, would be in the way because it's a 3-span design so the pillars are bang in the route of your single track.

AIUI the reopening society had a study done that claimed a tunnel for the length of the road was technically viable, can't remember what the cost of it was though.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Oh indeed. I said "doable", not "easy"

At a minimum you're looking at closing the Wetherby Way roundabout exit (replacing it with one from Hertford Road); taking out the garages and the house between them; starting to go into tunnel before Sanctus Road; rebuilding the overbridge; and tunneling under the roundabout. Doable. But not cheap or easy.

The Arup report in 2012 (link) went through the various options (section 4.3.1), though they were keen to retain the Wetherby Way access.

 

[Bald Rick]

Stratford's doable - you'd have to grade-separate the Evesham Road roundabout but you could just about squeeze a single-line formation through.

Not without wide scale disruption to residential property. As discussed on previous threads.

 

[david1212]

Taking Cheltenham - Honeyboune first remember the actual closure was because of the failure of earthworks and since the GW(S)R have operated first Toddington - Cheltenham Racecourse then the extension to Broadway they have had numerous earthworks and bridge issues.
As a passenger route it does not serve any large or even medium settlements. Do correct me if wrong but there has never been a regular Stratford - Cheltenham limited stop bus service. While "chicken and egg" if thought the demand was there logically there would have been at least been a trial. Possibly at some time a trial during summer of few services a day primarily to serve Chipping Campden and Broadway but nothing more.
As a freight route even if a significant switch from road to rail I do not see how the route would be a major help without also capacity increases to feed it? If e.g. an additional track north from Yate more logical to carry on to Worcester, add chords around Worcestershire Parkway and restore the double track to Honeybourne.

For Honeybourne - Stratford there is far more potential. As discussed above and elsewhere the route from Stratford station is the difficulty. I recall that there was supposed to be provision for a single line but have often wondered the detail. First the width from Evesham Road alongside the road to the Greenway car park and second anything other than a level crossing at Evesham Road. If money was no issue a tunnel from the station side of Evesham Road under all of the ( not so ) new road emerging onto the old route. I can not visualise how either raising the roads even say 3metres and the railway underneath or vice-versa would work. Modern DMU's can handle reasonable gradients but freight requires shallower slopes or a total bypass of Stratford.
As to passenger services options include Leamington - Stratford - Worcester and Birmingham - Stratford - Moreton-in-Marsh - Oxford. If each was hourly and connected at Honeybourne with Oxford (and beyond ) - Worcester ( and beyond ) hourly services plus all XC stopped at Worcestershire Parkway there ought to be demand.