Much excitement today as the government’s major new rail strategy was announced. Our very own Ashington Blyth & Tyne re-opening campaign gets a mention in para 2.4.3 (page 25). You can see the full document by clicking here.
I wound up doing 2 interviews for the BBC (different departments) at different times of the day, the 2nd going out on Radio Newcastle’s “North East Today” programme this afternoon.
The government statement contains a number of different and discrete announcements, but the essence (and I have not yet had a chance to read it through completely) seems to be take Network Rail out of the loop and give operators and stakeholders more control for upgrades, extensions and yes … re-openings. That does fit with our view that Network Rail’s costs are extortionately high and their process way too complex for something as simple as bringing trains back to a working, fully maintained line.
But the government’s paper says “evolution, not revolution”. Like Network Rail itself, nothing will happen quickly. What we don’t want is the Ashington re-opening slowed down or put on hold whilst these new arrangements come in to play. Please will all stakeholders keep focussed on a target re-opening date of 2021.
