The Scotsman reports a new analysis of Beeching’s cuts which ranks the Waverley Route as the worst line closure in Britain.
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/transport/450-miles-of-scots-railway-dodged-beeching-axe-1-2848941
Produced by rail consultant, author and CBR member David Spaven – with help from two rail industry colleagues – the table (see link below) ranks fifteen different routes by length of line closed / distance from the remaining rail network / population / ‘strategic connectivity’.
Beeching closures comparison final summary table
Spaven comments:
“There may be knowing smiles that the route about which I’ve written a book tops the table – but my colleagues actually prevailed upon me to increase my initial score for the Waverley Route, as they felt I was trying too hard to be seen to be scrupulously fair in the analysis! Since closure left the Borders as the only region of Britain without a rail service, and no other towns as large as Galashiels and Hawick as far from the rail network, I think the overall judgement is probably correct.”
David Parker says:
The main problem after a railway line is close by the British Railway during Beeching’s cuts, they broke up the track bed between the local farms owners. So to bring back the railway line to same amount of track. If it was a 2 railway with up, down line more likely to be reformed as single line because of all the work needed to talk to the new owners of the track bed, price they require for that piece of land to relaying of the track bed as shown with extension of the Bluebell railway line http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/