Regular trains between Swanage and Wareham could return
The Government's poured £50,000 into Swanage Railway to explore the possibility of regular service.
£50,000 is being given to Swanage Railway to restore services between Swanage and Wareham.
It's part of the Restoring Your Railway Fund, announced last week as part of £100billion spending to drive the UK's recovery from coronavirus.
The money will pay for a report into how to improve the service by running more services between Swanage and Wareham each day.
The regular train service between Swanage and Wareham was controversially axed by British Rail in January, 1972, with six and a half miles of the single track line from Furzebrook to Corfe Castle and Swanage being lifted in just seven weeks that summer.
It's been welcomed by South Dorset MP richard Drax as an investment into the tourism industry here.
Richard Drax said:
"I'm absolutely delighted that as part of the Restoring Your Railway Fund, a bid they put forward and I supported, they're getting £50,000.
"Clearly, the more trains that can run each day, and the more days per year that the trains can run, the better the service.
"This is all part of trying to help the rural economy, which relies heavily on tourism, and this railway line is not only iconic, but it's visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year.
"Of course, as we rely more on public transport, if we can get a really reliable railway running between Wareham and Swanage, I'm sure more and more people will use it."
He says tourism is vital to Dorset's economy.
"Dorset's taken a ht, and we are hugely reliant on tourism, and the hospitality sector has been really clobbered right now, which is a tragedy in my view.
"We have about 20 million visitors a year so it is crucial we get them all back.
"Attractions like this railway, and I pay such tribute to all who worked on it, it's a passion for them, they literally rebuilt it with their bare hands, and if we can continue to expand the service and have more trains and get this iconic thing more into the minds of those who want to come and visit this beautiful part of the world, the better."
Swanage Railway chairman Gavin Johns said:
“We’re delighted that a updated and detailed feasibility study and business case into our plans to operate train services from Swanage and Corfe Castle to the main line at Wareham have been successful in this round of funding for the Government’s ‘Restoring Your Railway Fund’.
“The grant will pay for a fully updated feasibility study, and we hope a positive business case, for a passenger train service between Swanage and Wareham once the Coronavirus pandemic is over,” added Mr Johns who is a volunteer signalman on the popular heritage line.