Wisbech Rail Reopening Campaign

Stephen Barclay, the MP for North East Cambridgeshire, talked to Chris Austin about making the case for Wisbech in the latest edition of Railfuture’s national magazine “Railwatch”.

The desire to improve prospects for his constituents is the main factor that convinced MP Stephen Barclay of the need for better links between the two parts of the county. The 4,000 signatures on the reopening petition served to underline his judgement here. Restoration of the line has been proposed several times before but has never got anywhere. The first problem was that it had no business case and that previous studies had shown little benefit in return for the capital cost of restoration. Looking more closely at the scheme, Stephen Barclay saw that earlier analysis had focused on the transport case, but not evaluated the wider economic benefits.

In addition, the scheme had no champion, partly because of the poor economic case, and partly because the local authority had run into difficulties with previous major transport schemes, including the notorious St Ives busway. Stephen Barclay pays tribute to Martin Curtis, the leader of Cambridgeshire, for supporting the wider benefits study which transformed the case for the line.

Now the project has a sound business case and full support from the county council and the LEP as a priority. In political terms, Stephen Barclay has built a strong case for the line, not primarily to link Wisbech to the national network, but in support of the Government’s £1 billion Cambridge City Deal, designed to develop the potential of this internationally renowned city.
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Stephen Barclay’s thoughtful and strategic approach has built a strong case for Wisbech, and we will see passenger trains there, perhaps as early as control period six (2019-24). This is a textbook case on how to tackle reopenings, but you cannot take anything for granted and we all need to continue to make the case until the trains start running.

Download the full article here (PDF download):
Page 1: http://www.wisbechrail.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/railwatch_wisbech1.pdf
Page 2: http://www.wisbechrail.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/railwatch_wisbech2.pdf

View this (July 2014) and earlier editions of Railwatch here:
http://www.railwatch.org.uk/backtrack/

Cambs Times 15th April 2014
http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/news/mp_barclay_pushing_for_government_funding_for_wisbech_rail_link_study_1_3560664

A series of meetings have been held to discuss funding for a study into a train line between March and Wisbech.

MP Steve Barclay met with Cabinet Minister Greg Clark to discuss government funding for a study to see how Network Rail could deliver the project.

He also met with the special adviser to Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin to discuss funding options from the Department for Transport.

Mr Barclay said: “Mr Clark was supportive of the scheme and thought it was a very interesting and positive project”.

The Wisbech Rail Reopening scheme has jumped another step towards certainty today, with the news that the  wider economic benefits study has calculated that there would be £3 of benefits for every £1 spent on the scheme giving huge additional strength for the case to reopen the line.

The local MP Steve Barclay describes the development here:
http://stevebarclay.net/game-changing-wisbech-rail-line-study-published/

“There were many other potential benefits, which through excellent work by officials at Cambridgeshire County Council in Graham Hughes’s team, we have together been able to identify. On the back of this, County Council leader Martin Curtis commissioned a study on the wider economic benefits, which was carried out by Mott MacDonald.
As a consequence the BCR is now 3, which is higher even than that of HS2, which stands at 2.3. This means that every £1 spent is expected to return £3 in benefits, giving the reopening a strong value-for-money case. I would particularly like to pay tribute to Councillor Curtis for his vision in commissioning this game changing report.
The next step in building on this positive report is a meeting today with Cabinet Minister Greg Clark MP to discuss funding for the next, more detailed study to be carried out by Network Rail.
I see the joint report published today as a real game changer. For the first time in four decades we have an independent report which shows the wider economic benefits to Cambridgeshire from reopening the Wisbech line. We must ensure momentum is maintained, and move forward from this report with a detailed cost assessment by Network Rail to be done in July, and today’s report will help us to progress this.”

Steve Barclay’s video describing the progress is here:
http://stevebarclay.net/game-changing-wisbech-rail-line-study-published/
“Game-changing Wisbech Rail Line Study published”

The news is reflected in the local press:
http://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/news/mp_says_new_study_showing_benefits_that_re_opening_of_wisbech_to_march_rail_line_would_bring_is_a_game_changer_1_3532780
“A direct line would take 48 minutes between Wisbech and Cambridge for example compared to the one hour 10 minutes it takes at off peak times by road”
The line closed for passenger services in 1968 but continued to operate for freight until 2000.
Network Rail says a feasibility study, if agreed, cold begin in July and take six months to complete.
If funding becomes available work on restoring the line could begin as early as 2016/17.

The profile of the Wisbech Rail Reopening scheme has been raised to a national level by Steve Barclay hosting a summit in parliament with Transport Minister, Stephen Hammond and a host of political leaders and rail experts. The transport minister descibed the reopening as “a strategic priority”. This is another very significant step towards the reopening.

Here are a collection of reports and quotes about the summit.

Reopening the railway line to Wisbech is “a strategic priority”, the transport minister Stephen Hammond told a special rail summit held in Westminster.
BBC Look East reports http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-26545969

Martin Curtis Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council talking to Chris Mann on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
Chris Mann: Why is this so important?
Martin Curtis: Well first of all we all know that we’ve got within the Cambridgeshire area, and if you include Peterborough with that, we’ve got two of the fastest growing cities in the country. And what we need to be doing now is finding a way of connecting up the rest of the County to see that they benefit from that, and in fact the wider economic area as well. So the Wisbech to March rail link, one of the things that it will do is as we have that growing Cambridge economy, it will pull Wisbech into the travel-to-work area for Cambridge. But also the reverse side is true as well. It will unlock the tourism potential of Wisbech as well. So that’s why it’s important.
http://www.newlistener.co.uk/home/martin-curtis-wisbech-rail-summit-progress-update/

Video: Progress on Wisbech line with Parliamentary Rail Summit
http://stevebarclay.net/progress-on-wisbech-line-with-parliamentary-rail-summit/
Yesterday marked an important step forward in the campaign to reconnect Wisbech to the rail network with a meeting in Parliament with Transport Minister, Stephen Hammond and a host of political leaders and rail experts.
The most positive aspect of the meeting was the clear indication from Mr Hammond that he ‘recognised reopening this line is considered a strategic priority.’ He made clear that transport schemes can be accelerated where there is strong political and business will to do so.
Mr Hammond also signalled that he particularly valued a bottom-up approach where local expertise informs rail priorities and that he was keen to work with the promoters of this scheme moving forward.
It is extremely positive following the enhanced work undertaken by Cambridgeshire County Council on the wider economic benefits case, to now have such a clear steer from the Minister that the Wisbech line could be prioritised with a view to starting in 2017 if locally we are united and present a strong value for money business case.

Wisbech Standard: Most positive aspect of Wisbech to March rail summit the fact Transport Minister considered it “a strategic priority”
http://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/news/video_most_positive_aspect_of_wisbech_to_march_rail_summit_the_fact_transport_minister_considered_it_a_strategic_priority_1_3427572

BBC News: Hopes boosted for the reopening of the Wisbech line
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26552717

Cambs Time: At £50m could the final cost of re-opening the Wisbech to March rail line prove to be a bridge too far?
http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/news/at_50m_could_the_final_cost_of_re_opening_the_wisbech_to_march_rail_line_prove_to_be_a_bridge_too_far_1_3423798

Railfuture, who are leading the “Wisbech Rail Reopening Campign” welcomes this summit which will bring stakeholders together to form the partnership which is essential for any rail development proposal to succeed.
http://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1441-Wisbech-Rail-Summit

Steve Barclay MP has organised a summit on March 11th with an impressive lineup of stakeholders to drive this project forward. The Wisbech Rail Reopening campaign sees this opportunity to focus ideas, effort and plans as a very significant step towards the reopening.

Steve Barclay describes the background to this:
http://stevebarclay.net/parliamentarysummitwisbechrailline/

“Key to the regeneration of Wisbech is reconnecting the town to the rail network. This is also important to the County as a whole, not least as the economic growth in Cambridge risks being constrained by a shortage of housing, which Fenland can help address provided the transport infrastructure is put in place.

As part of my campaign to secure a Wisbech line, I have arranged a rail summit in the House of Commons on Tuesday 11th March, which Transport Minister Stephen Hammond MP has kindly agreed to attend.

I am delighted that all the key stakeholders invited have confirmed they will take part. These include, along with the Minister, Network Rail, Atkins Rail Consultancy, the Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership Graham Nix, Leader of Cambridgeshire County Councillor Cllr Martin Curtis, lead County Council transport official Graham Hughes, Leader of Fenland District Council Councillor Cllr Alan Melton, Jonathan Denby of train operator Greater Anglia, and other rail experts including Stephen Joseph OBE of the Campaign for Better Transport and Chris Austin OBE of the Rail Future Campaign group who was the author of the 2009 Connecting Communities report from ATOC.

This builds on a series of meetings in Parliament and locally to promote the case for the long overdue station at Wisbech. I met with the Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin on 19th January, the Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership Graham Nix on 14th February, have scheduled a telephone conference call on 3rd March with Steve Knight, Infrastructure Director of Network Rail, and am meeting the Secretary of State’s special adviser on 4th March.”

…..

“the Local Enterprise Partnership’s bid due on 31st March is the best opportunity Wisbech has had for a long time to finally deliver the railway link that the town needs. I am determined not to leave any stone unturned in making the case and the rail summit is an important step forward in capitalising on the available expertise to drive this project forward.”

MP Steve Barclay reports another significant step towards the reopening of the railway to Wisbech with the announcement that the County Council are commissioning a study to look at the wider economic benefits for the line including an assessment of the transformative effects of linking Wisbech to Cambridge.

http://stevebarclay.net/hailing-major-step-forward-in-campaign-for-new-wisbech-rail-station/

“It is great news that the Council is now undertaking an official Wider Economic Benefit Review of reopening the line to Wisbech. Previous attempts to reconnect this line have been undermined because passenger forecasts as to usage were based on the number of people in Wisbech commuting to Cambridge.

This was deeply flawed because it ignored the transformative effect the rail line will have in that people who wouldn’t currently be willing to commute to Cambridge due to the long road journey would be willing to do so if there was a short train journey in a fraction of the time.

These previous assessments on passenger usage also took place before the decision was taken to build a new railway station at Cambridge Science Park which will also speed up journey times by avoiding the need to travel into Cambridge and then back out to the science park.

A third area that past studies were not able to take on board was the significant economic growth Cambridge has seen in recent years, in particular the hugely positive announcement last year that Astra Zeneca is relocating around 400 jobs from its Macclesfield site to one consolidated site at the Cambridge science park.”

Pressure continues to build for a rail link to Wisbech with MP Steve Barclay due to meet the transport minister Patrick McLoughlin next week to press for the re-opening of the Wisbech to March rail line.
http://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/mp_to_meet_transport_minister_to_press_for_re_opening_wisbech_to_march_rail_line_1_3212590
The NE Cambs MP said he would be meeting the secretary of state for transport on Wednesday “to continue to make the case for reopening the train line to Wisbech, particularly given the potential for Fenland to provide housing linked by rail to the economic growth in Cambridge. This includes good quality jobs at the Cambridge Science Park.”
The campaign is very appreciative of work Steve Barclay is doing and hopes the campaign supporters will take every opportunity to express their encouragement.

Councillor Martin Curtis, Sunil Gogna (Atkins) and Steve Barclay MP

The Wisbech Rail Reopening Campaign is very pleased to see this week’s news from Steve Barclay MP of progress towards the reopening of the railway from Wisbech to March. He writes about the recent meeting with Graham Hughes, Director of Strategy and Development at Cambridgeshire County Council, Councillor Martin Curtis and Sunil Gogna from rail consultancy firm Atkins to discuss the progress of the consultation into regenerating the Wisbech Rail Line, and suggests service could start to reap significant business benefits between 2016 and 2019.

There is a full description of the meeting here:
http://stevebarclay.net/reconnecting-wisbech-local-transport-update-meeting/

The Wisbech Rail Reopening Campaign are of course concerned about some of the compromises being considered, and will continue to press for full service from Wisbech to Cambridge service a station near the centre of Wisbech.

However, despite these reservations the news is a major step forward on the way to the line’s reopening and we would like to thank all the supporters for helping the project get to this stage and will be posting more information when it is available. Please do take any opportunity to reaffirm your support for the project to Steve Barclay MP and Cambridgeshire County Council.

The petition was handed to Cambridgeshire County Council on Tuesday 16th July 2013, with a total of 3784 supporters, 2907 from Cambridgeshire.

However we are still gathering support so please sign the petition where you can also request updates on the campaign by email, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Following the presentation of the petition to Cambridgeshire County Council, we have now received this very positive response from Cllr Martin Curtis, the Leader of the Cambridgeshire County Council. Railfuture East Anglia on behalf of the petitioners, welcomes this positive reply and look forward to the reinstatement of national rail services from Wisbech. Our press release can be downloaded here (PDF document).

COUNTY COUNCIL – 16 JULY 2013 – RESPONSE

Thank you for presenting your 2907-signature petition at Council on 16 July 2013, supporting the re-opening of the Wisbech to March railway line and provision of a through train service to Cambridge.
We welcome this petition and all the work you and the Campaign have put into promoting better transport links for Wisbech. This is an important part of demonstrating the strength of feeling locally and in time, of improving provision.
The Council supports the goal of better transport links to and from Wisbech, and rail if possible, and has already commissioned work to understand the feasibility of different options to achieve that goal. We are now carrying out detailed works into the proposals so
that we can understand the scale of costs involved and how they may be addressed and, subject to the outcome, we would hope then to be in a position to identify potential solutions. I appreciate that this process may appear to be very lengthy, but it is necessary to ensure we develop the right solution.
As we move this work forward, I will ensure that my officers keep the campaign and Railfuture informed of progress, and hope that a positive outcome for Wisbech can be achieved as soon as possible.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Cllr Martin Curtis
Leader, Cambridgeshire County Council