Are you aware that Purbeck Rail Partnership requires between £2m and £3m for signalling at Wareham/Worgret so that daily passenger trains from the main line can access Swanage Branch? Without this money it will not happen!
Swanage Town council have just sold Swanage Bay view Caravan Park for £7.2million Do you think that some of this should be directed towards the signalling... We could get the train to anywhere in the country!
If you agree there will be petitions at the Red Lion, and Jurassic Outdoor, hopefully other places too, and I will be going round town asking for signatures.
Please sign as this could benefit the town so much, Both the businesses and their income and the locals who will be able to get elsewhere without having to use an unreliable and expensive bus service.
Thank you in advance!
Posted by Siobhan O'Neill to swanageview at 2:01 AM
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Before we commit public funds we need to know will this be a proper integrated part of local transport, meeting every mainline train all year around?
Well is this not what Swanage railway have been building on for how many years? That their hope will be to connect to other links. I say great idea , lets commit now before such funding does dissapear into a cloud of secrecy!!!! I will sign for sure.
Plus not only must we do it , we have the Olympics in 2012 and if we are not connected by then , we will miss out on alot of income for Swanage.
I say great idea too. Make Swanage more accessible & would make it much easier for Swanage residents to travel to work in Wareham, Poole etc.
Or you could rip up the track and have a dedicated electric bus service every 30 mins.
Everyone at Swanage Railway volunteers because they think the railway benifts the town and they like it. They have spent many years trying to connect us to the outside world. And have raised alot of funds too do this. All they need now is the signaling and the track is finished. It would be heartbreaking for many people , to see all their many years of hard work just ripped up.
It sounds like a good idea but the word on the streets is that the Council can't use this money this way.
Speculative business mebbie?
If Swanage Railway were creating hundreds of extra car journeys per year (say by building houses)then they would be liable for £100K's of infrastructure contributions. So logically by taking people off the roads they should be eligible for a grant?
The last post may well be true, but there is no harm in trying. The District Auditor will monitor and regulate how this windfall is invested.
Connecting Swanage to Poole and beyond may regenerate the area, making it a viable commuter suburb of the Poole conurbation. Will that necessarily be a good thing?
I also heard DCC had purchased the trains to run on the route so surely they won't let the project fail?
Between 2 and £3M?. PDC officers have assured this link will be in place by 2011. A firm quote must be in existence by now. Shouldn't it?
Fiding anything up to date is beyond me, but DCC have bought 3 trains!
Dec '05
www.networkrail.co.uk/.../d/dorset%20county%20council.pdf
cant get link to work_:(
Try this instead.
http://tinyurl.com/yk7637s
Thank you that's fine
What is the maximum speed on the rail line between Swanage and Corfe? What is it between Corfe and Wareham? If the speed is less than the roads, then the train will not justify the massive investment required. As it is, it takes between 45 minutes and an hour to reach Poole centre by car from Swanage. Will the train be any faster (and will people want to wait on the platform at Wareham to change trains to Poole)?
Are there any studies on this topic?
I presume that the comment posted above has stopped this thread in its tracks (metaphor intended). A rail link with restricted speed simply put will not be worth the investment.
Swanage - Wareham in 15 minutes, linking to Wareham to Poole in 15 minutes (3 minutes transfer at Wareham) = 33 minutes Swanage to Poole. That would work. But I rather doubt there will be much demand at anything other than peak times. Look at the numbers on W&D buses. They never fill up until Wareham or Upton.
Do people still go to the centre of Poole? Shopping and employment largely moved to the fringes years ago. It looks like we will get a train service designed for the needs of a century ago.
I believe DCC "own" the land that the rail runs along and therefore the issue of Swanage Town Council having additional funds isn't the issue ? My understanding is that Network Rail have applied to refurbish the signalling between Bournemouth and Wool, and if the Swanage - Wareham branch line were to be included this would be an additional £3m cost. My guess is that it isn't likely to be included given the current financial / political situation. In any case I dont think the plan is for completion until after 2012 so another missed opportunity re the olympics.
Sorry, but this line will never be a viable alternative to road travel if the speed restrictions are so low.
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