As COP27 gets under way in Egypt, we may think global, but to get anything done, as per a rudder with a ship, we need to think and act local and export best practice.
Britain once had the most comprehensive and integrated public transport system in the world. Post-war it was systematically disintegrated and closed down. Instead we invested in oil, roads, aviation and these interdependent on cheap fuel procurement.
Now we have a demand for cutting fossil fuel, road and aviation dependency and a call for investing in renewable energy and in a nutshell another paradigmatic shift.
Left in abstract with news of catastrophic weather and other 'climate change signs' beit excess temperatures and casualties in such wakes alongside wars and competitiveness for survival of the fittest, it is easy to forget what we could be doing to incrementally cut emissions and reduce the problems anyway, now.
Rail reopenings from a local solution basis have a. exceeded expectations in Scotland and Wales and we need them in England too. Problem is, old rail routes and urban area junctionings have been allowed to be lost and no alternative access retained in many cases. Some could be recovered, but new-build with new out-of-town boundary junctions would be required with deviations. Compensation packages and relocation can be done, but of course, all adds to cost and upheaval. The greater good may require it if we want to give rail choices and alternatives to road dependency and congestion with associated emissions and pollution affecting and taking a toll on public health, which then commutes to a queue and cost to the NHS for example.
I attach our newsletter of the missing gap between Bedford and East Anglia, many others exist. Can we learn lessons and do better? The success of reopening to Okehampton in Devon has sparked local calls for more of the same with reopenings to Tavistock, Bude, Bideford and Ilfracombe on the agenda.
Instead of new money, why not make a decision to switch £27 billion found for new roads which panders to more guzzling and waste, and pep up or tilt in favour, the Rail Reopenings Fund which is pitted at a mere £500 million for the whole of UK rail? Given studies start at upwards of £50k - beyond the realms of campaigners like ourselves - the throwing into long grass ideas and solution, when a mere sorting equality out in budgetary terms could lever in so much, seems an opportunity lost.
Please give us more support. In the north we want lines like Colne-Skipton, Woodhead, Matlock-Buxton/Chinley, Keswick and a new link to Louth in Lincolnshire, as well as York-Hull via Beverley. In the Midlands, Northampton-Market Harborough would link the emergent Oxford-Milton Keynes lines with East Midlands and vice versa. In the south, Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham for Reading-Brighton direct arcingly and a new Polegate-Stone Cross to shave 20 minutes off Brighton-Ashford and enable more London-Gatwick-Eastbourne capacity and freight by rail too.
In short, we need a nationwide rail reopenings plan and a levelling up or switch of investment priorities from new roads to reopening local rail for more people and goods to be conveyed off the roads. It is not a panacea, but has so far proven good value for money and the environment, so why not consider and support it more? A stitch in time could save more than 9, in principle. It is time for action! Thank you.
The ERTA Newsletter is out now, to get a free email copy, send requests to richard.erta@gmail.com
During these testing times, ERTA is working to ensure we keep our programme on track both internally and externally. I attach notice of a new date for our Market Harborough Public Meeting and welcome people to diary it and encourage others to attend and work with us in policy and goalification terms to move the agenda towards delivery of these rail links and attendant stations.
Our other events are on our website: https://ertarail.co.
This is amended as we go.
May I invite you to consider a donation to ERTA which is voluntary and printing flyers to get our message across costs money. Any donation greater or lesser which can help tide us over, would be very much appreciated by us. See: https://ertarail.co.uk/
Our association works hard to bring people together, get our ideas, solutions and suggestions into common currency and make for support for getting the idea of equal funding between road and rail and indeed, given COP27, to tip in favour of local rail reopenings. Currently we have £27 billion for new roads and a mere £500 million for the Rail Reopenings Fund, which is shockingly inadequate for the nationwide vision of local, conventional rail reopenings, rebuilds and select pieces of new-builds. Please give us your support and impress on your local MP's the need to inform policies and spending which actually helps with modal shift from road to rail, not a status quo which just makes congestion and emissions worse and doesn't reduce them. Only rail can, so we need the rails to ensure that can happen. Thank you.
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