The 11.5 mile link between Skipton and Colne was one of the many sad casualties of the rapid reduction of the network after the war. Although Beeching had recommended the line to stay open as a terminus from Preston, it did end up being the line to be closed to and from Skipton.
There has already been significant railway usage improvement in the local area and the benefits a reopened line would bring to the strategic mix far exceed the costs required to build it. There have been many studies completed showing wider benefits of line reopenings for stagnant parts of the country or those which would grow less economically and demographically without it.
There are two possible locations for reopened stations along the line, the main proposal being one at Earby serving the local community of that area as pictured above. The other opportunity for station addition to the network is Foulridge relatively near to Earby. This would not be a small task as the entire station was dismantled, preserved and rebuilt on the new Keighley & Worth Valley Steam Railway at West Ingrow.
A full consultancy was recently held about the feasibility of the options available for the reopening of the Skipton-Colne line.:
- Single track option (£42.6m) to include both stations;
- More extension option involving some doubling of track and junction improvements at Colne and Gannow Junction (£80.7m).
- Hourly shuttle service from Skipton to Colne with the line being run as a branch line again as in the old BR days (£860k);
- Extension of the existing Blackpool South to Colne service to Skipton (£830k);
- Hourly Skipton to Blackburn service operated by two additional trains but there are implementation challenges with this eastbound (£2.41m). With three additional trains, this challenge would be overcome (£3.36m);
- Hourly Skipton to Manchester Victoria service to complement existing services (£6.25m).
Line reopenings in this era of raising fuel costs, concern about the environment and the choking of Britain’s roads to breaking point are often quite successful with the most notable being the Settle to Carlisle line in the area which has gone from near closure to quite well used today. The following benefits were identified by the consultancy document:
- Direct employment arising from railway construction;
- Permanent employment from the operation of the railway;
- Indirect employment created in businesses supplying the products, materials and services;
- New businesses attracted to the area because of improved rail links;
- Induced employment arising from increased spend in the local area;
- Net additional spend by increased numbers of visitors to the area.
From a personal point of view, I would very much welcome the restoration of this rail link between the two towns. As a resident of Preston, I have often thought Skipton would be a nice place to visit for a weekend trip. There are many ways the line can be publicised to increase patronage and we at Transport Central wish SELRAP all the best in their endeavours.
[ # 180 ] Comment from jonathan roberts [March 5, 2009, 1:17 pm]
I fully support reopening of the railways, beeching should have been stopped from day one.
Its almost possible to apportion some blame for the current environental issues with have to that administration.
The uk parliment should without delay have a cross party agreement set in law, addressing the issues of railway reopenings.
While road widening schemes such as the A1 are needed it cant go on forever, indeed the A1(m) past harrogate is allready too busy and thats just 15 years after opening.
which means that the widening has failed its purpose.
There are many lines in addition to the skipton line, which should be reopened EG york – hull via stamford bridge and pocklington.
Close to my home used to be the isle of axholme line linking haxey with goole.
THe point is the A161 is dangerous and you have in Belton a primary school where kids mix with Huge trucks amd heavy traffic twice a day, all the while the almost undisturbed track bed lies unused restoring this and putting a staition at scunthorpe glandford park , would allow pensioners and people with no car access to have a link to a large supermarket and a wider area from their own doorstep, i emailed our MP and asked him if it was possible to send out a questionaire asking the three local communities along the route to see if theyd use it.
to date no reply on that one though interestingly he claimed network rail have it on a list to be looked at.