Letter: Reopening of railway stations

The pledges are coming fast and furious from the major parties in the general election campaign. All of them have to be headline-grabbing and Boris Johnson has certainly managed that with his pledge to reopen railway stations that were axed by Beeching under the direction of Transport Minister, Ernest Marples.

The package is set to cost £500m and he has stated that it will start in the north. The priority must be a line reopening: Woodhead, not a Beeching closure, the only TransPennine route to be electrified, making it modern. It must be restored to its full former glory, a project that would serve two major cities, along with liberating the long-neglected Upper Don Valley as well as ticking all the environmental boxes.

If Mr Johnson really cares about the north, then he must demonstrate such by addressing the existing network too. Northern England is scarred by rationalisation measures on a scale not to be found in London and the home counties. Another illustration of the north-south divide. The Penistone line provides an ideal example. Between Barnsley and Huddersfield, it has been reduced to a single-track line, except for just two passing loops, following various rationalisation measures over decades which must be reversed because it has been pared back to the bone. During this period of railway contraction all of the communities served by the line have experienced growth through housing developments which have transformed the corridor into classic commuter country, the very market that rail cannot adequately serve due to route capacity constraints.

Such infrastructure investment is not glamorous, sexy or headling-grabbing, nor would it yield a ribbon-cutting ceremony or ministerial speech, but it is vital in ensuring that rail realises its full potential and contributes both economically and environmentally for the benefit of future generations.