Great Western Coffee Shop

From Mail Online (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-9712493/German-railway-announces-plan-reopen-20-closed-routes.html)


We have looked at a number of railway re-openings on the forum - but based on financial / business cases with an icing of politics - rarely if ever based on an environment and climate change element.  Which are the lines in the UK that are already making the largest environmental difference, and are there others which, if re-opened, could make an outstanding difference?

I still would prefer ticket gates installed at most large stations,

and I am refering to Sheffield station along with Doncaster Chesterfield Rotherham and Meadowhall.

At the last (proper)count 10 million used Sheffield station a year,so the loss must be in the millions of pounds

I think that is a different issue, though.   I don't see ticket gates doing anything for the environment and climate except indirectly by helping in the measurement and financing of rail development through better stats and revenue collection. Might even drive some of the folks who make free train use into other ways ... I can think of places in Wiltshire where a fully enforced daily payment to travel would result in a heavier use of Dad's taxi.

In the case of exisiting lines; the routes making the largest environmental difference are probably the electrified ones... or perhaps some that carry alot of freight (avoiding HGV movements on the road). I think the environmental case for diesel-powered passenger rail is difficult to make - the full-length 125mph IC125s on the Great Western and Midland main lines probably were among the better performing routes in this regard - because the high speeds would probably have been attractive to passengers who may otherwise have gone by private car and the CO2-per-seat figures for an IC125 if I recall correctly are/were quite a bit better than the gas-guzzling Voyager/Meridian units.

At the other end of the scale, a 2-car Sprinter unit probably compares poorly to a bus service - especially since a train cannot easily stop at every gatepost to pick up passengers so you need to run the bus anyway as a socially necessary service for people who don't have access to a car. Unless the buses are running full, traffic abstraction from the bus service is counter productive. For a 2-car diesel passenger railway to make a positive contribution to environmental issues it needs to be successful in reducing private car use - to what degree I'm not sure.

Taunton to Minehead would be my favourite.
The environmental gain would seem considerable since traffic congestion results in much wasted fuel by buses and cars at busy times.
Also provision of through trains to the Butlins holiday camp would encourage rail use from say London or Bristol to Minehead, not just between Taunton and Minehead.

A battery train would be ideal for a Taunton to Minehead shuttle with charging at each end of the line. Through trains would have to be diesel or bi mode.

Witney to Oxford. The A40 is terrible between the two points.
Completion of electrification to Oxford and beyond is an easy target for electric trains that currently end at Didcot, plus fasts that finish at Oxford.

Is Butlins open all year round?
Would there be much demand for a rail link outside the summer months?
Would there be much demand for a rail link within the summer months?

Portishead and Havant-Hayling Island would be my top two on this criteria, as rail is the only realistic alternative in both cases if you were to make a serious attempt to reduce private car use, with the specific local circumstances rendering the bus impotent in tackling it instead.

grahame has previously looked into the varuous traffic flows here (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=17237.msg293536#msg293536), including the provision of a platform serving Butlins on Seaward Road on the existing route.

Not ALL year, but it is used for a much longer season than might be supposed.
Outside of the summer holiday season the venue has been used for hugely popular music events, and also for large scale religious gatherings. I would expect an increase in such events if through trains were available.
A major political party considered holding a conference at Minehead Butlins "to show the west that we care about them" but the idea was rejected due to poor transport links.