What is an abandoned railway that would be very easy to reopen, but has had little or no progress made?

[SargeNpton]

The Cowley branch line in oxford

Being looked at, probably to be operated by Chiltern.

Plans for 'Oxford Metro' with new train routes across the city

PLANS for a new 'Oxford Metro' will be presented to the Government as part of a future plan for a city-wide system of new train routes.

www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk

 

[The Planner]

Being looked at, probably to be operated by Chiltern.

Plans for 'Oxford Metro' with new train routes across the city

PLANS for a new 'Oxford Metro' will be presented to the Government as part of a future plan for a city-wide system of new train routes.

www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk

Not sure a lot has happened since that piece in 2017...

 

[Iskra]

Sheffield to Stocksbridge/Deepcar; the line is still in daily freight use, you would just possibly need to think about signalling and build some simple platforms.

 

[Bald Rick]

Sheffield to Stocksbridge/Deepcar; the line is still in daily freight use, you would just possibly need to think about signalling and build some simple platforms.

And find space in the timetable at Sheffield. Good luck!

 

[Iskra]

And find space in the timetable at Sheffield. Good luck!

Well, you can't get into Sheffield Midland anyway from that direction without a bizarre, capacity sapping reversal. You would need a new primitive station in the Neepsend/West Bar area to operate it as a shuttle, or possibly have a primitive station and then run through to Meadowhall and on to somewhere else for it to terminate. It's on the line that used to be served by Sheffield Victoria and then continues away from Sheffield Midland.

 

[SargeNpton]

Not sure a lot has happened since that piece in 2017...

True, but opening of the Cowley branch to passenger services has been mentioned once or twice since then.

 

[SussexLad]

All the documents relating to the study are here: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/roads/roadschemes/rail/

The trackbed is either a farm track, bridleway or railway for most of the length between the Uckfield Bypass and the former Hamsey junction. But the Lavender line is an important tourist asset, and Barcombe mills station is a private dwelling which has filled in the trackbed between the platforms. At Uckfield the trackbed is obstructed by the Bypass, and partially by a sewage farm and industrial estate. At Lewes the original route through the town is almost totally obliterated, so NR proposed using the original alignment via Hamsey, which is intact (but involves 2 level crossings or a realignment). This means a reversal beyond Lewes is necessary to reach Brighton. There's also the small matter of Isfield level crossing, which not only would cut the village off from the main road every time it closed but is very close to a T-Junction so risk mitigation would be very high (if allowed at all).
Not insurmountable obstacles, but not exactly a 'ready to go' project.

BML2, while a worthy suggestion, hinges on a 1.5 mile tunnel through chalk downland in the middle of a National Park. I imagine there have already been several threads on this forum about potential Lewes-Uckfield and 2nd Brighton-London connections so won't go off on one here.

@SussexLad, give your username you really should be spelling Lewes correctly!

Damn auto correct

 

[Millisle]

I don't think the two ideas of 'abandoned railway' and 'very easy to reopen' converge.

 

[RichJF]

Waterside Line (Fawley Branch).
Track still there as freights only stopped using it about 2-3 years ago.
Hythe/Marchwood stations exist physically but would need modernising. Platforms at Fawley may need to be constructed.
SWR have a diesel unit that could cover a potential service (with fleet rejigging of course).
Manual crossing gates at Marchwood would need to be automated but not a massive job.

 

[JKF]

What is an abandoned/freight only railway line that would be very easy to reopen/have passenger service added back, but has had little or no progress made?
I can think of the Portishead branch. Only about 1/6 of it is actually abandoned, the rest is a daily-used freight line to Avonmouth docks.

to be pedantic, there is no regular freight on the Portbury line at the moment, in fact I don’t think there has been one all year that I have noticed, just the occasional route learning and track inspection working. Coal trains have finished, and no other traffic has taken its place, some new stock was delivered but nothing since late last year that I’m aware of. I do wonder if this would help speed up reopening as there isn’t any other traffic to work around at the moment, they should crack on with it! Also a shame the station in Portishead will be so poorly suited for incoming visitors, but that’s another thread.

 

[quantinghome]

Fawkham Junction to Southfleet Junction

 

[tbtc]

Well, you can't get into Sheffield Midland anyway from that direction without a bizarre, capacity sapping reversal. You would need a new primitive station in the Neepsend/West Bar area to operate it as a shuttle, or possibly have a primitive station and then run through to Meadowhall and on to somewhere else for it to terminate. It's on the line that used to be served by Sheffield Victoria and then continues away from Sheffield Midland.

I don't think you'll be able to get from the old Victoria station to Meadowhall, unless you are taking the tram route (or building a new station on the Tinsley side of Meadowhall, separate to the existing Interchange)

The Deepcar line would make a lot more sense if the "Old Road" (Sheffield - Darnall - Beighton - Chesterfield) opened to regular passenger services, since both projects are severely let down by lack of capacity at Sheffield Midland - doing both schemes at the same time would resolve the big weakness in both of them.

However, getting the Government to pay for two projects in the same area seems a bit optimistic, given the way they like to be seen to at least give lip service to spreading projects around.

That said, the Tories did win both Stocksbridge and Rother Valley constituencies last year (both previously solid Labour), so there's a slim chance they'll look more favourably on the chance to look good locally, in the way that money has coincidently been "spaffed" upon refurbishing the leisure centre at Stocksbridge whilst Ponds Forge in (Labour) Sheffield Central remained shut...

Glasgow Crossrail has been talked about for years. It's based on the existing City Union line which could form part of a Glasgow Metro

Years of prevarication by the city council and Transport Scotland - but it could still happen

I don't think it's prevarication, more a case that a "Crossrail" wouldn't run through the heart of the city (unlike the London version/s) but instead take existing services and divert them away from Glasgow Central which would make things a lot less attractive. Classic "solution in need of a problem"

If the OP means track and signalling all exist and are in a usable state, and there would be no problems with platforming at either end... then I'm not sure what's really stopping the reinstatement of a regular daily service between Exeter and Okehampton. Apart from funding (I think Devon CC were funding the Summer Sunday trains) and COVID

That's a good question re Okehampton - even though GWR has been taking on additional DMUs, there's not been any suggestion of a week/year round service to the town - unless people feel there's no point giving Okahampton a simple regular Exeter service unless it's part of a mega-plan to run Waterloo - Tavistock - Plymouth services...

 

[DelW]

Waterside Line (Fawley Branch).
Track still there as freights only stopped using it about 2-3 years ago.
Hythe/Marchwood stations exist physically but would need modernising. Platforms at Fawley may need to be constructed.
SWR have a diesel unit that could cover a potential service (with fleet rejigging of course).
Manual crossing gates at Marchwood would need to be automated but not a massive job.

Not just freight - I (and a trainload of others) went down it on a charter in spring 2017.