Rail minister to 'explore opportunities' to reopen Staffordshire railway line to passengers again
A transport minister has committed to "explore opportunities" to re-open a railway line in Staffordshire for passenger services – with a potential stop at the National Memorial Arboretum.
Kevin Forster said he was "very happy" to work with lobbying MP Michael Fabricant over the Lichfield to Burton line, which has not had any passenger services since the mid 1960s.
The line has been closed to passengers since the Beeching cuts and is currently only used for freight trains, with Mr Fabricant campaigning to get the line back up and running for people.
And the Lichfield MP he joked that he hoped the rail minister would be in place "long enough" to see the changes through, with there being a "number of changes" in personnel at the department over the last few years.
In a question to ministers, he said it would be "remarkably cheap" to convert it into a passenger line in – and it would relieve traffic on the A38 as well as provide a direct link for veterans to visit the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas.
Rail minister Kevin Foster, who responded on behalf of Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan who was invited to visit the site, "I do note the scheme was unsuccessful previously under the Restoring Your Railway programme but I am very happy to continue working with him to explore opportunities to improve rail transport on offer in this area."
The Lichfield MP added afterwards: "This scheme was never really suitable for the Restoring Your Railway programme, but it was thought an application would do no harm. It has the backing of West Midlands Metro Mayor, Andy Street, and the bid was prepared by his department’s West Midlands Rail Executive as the new line would, in effect, be an extension of the Cross City Line from Lichfield to Birmingham and beyond.
“Former rail minister, Chris Heaton Harris who is now Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, felt their were other funding pots to use for this line and in the next two weeks I will be exploring these possibilities with Kevin Foster. I hope that he will stay in place long enough to see this upgrade through! There have been a number of changes in personnel in the Department of Transport over the last few years."
Another station on the line could be at Barton-under-Needwood.
