Narrow decision on plan to reinstate railway

Herefordshire chiefs have narrowly voted to move forward with a plan to restore a historic rail link between Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Gloucester.

Ross Liberal Democrat councillor Louis Stark said axing the line in the mid-1960s was “one of the greatest pieces of economic and social vandalism to happen to the people of Ross and south Herefordshire”.

“If we are serious about a sustainable future , we have to have a modal shift in transport across the county, which has to include a wider role for rail,” he urged colleagues.

Now is “an opportune moment” to press the issue, he added, as the county has just agreed a Local Transport Plan up to 2041 which commits to “enhancing its rail services”.

And with the creation of a state-run Great British Railways and devolving of control over transport decisions, “the government are splashing the cash, and this will form a more rounded package to put to them, along with the bypass”, Coun Stark said.

Green group leader Stef Simmons agreed, saying: “If we don’t do the early work, we miss out on funding.”

But Coun Richard Thomas, who had ridden the former line in his youth, pointed the track route was all now in private hands.

“There is no alternative route – our Victorian engineers took the easiest possible route,” he said. “There are two tunnels, both collapsed, four bridges are missing, and there are six houses on what was the track.”

Coun Matthew Engel, who has written a book on Britain’s railways, called the idea “whimsy”, and a distraction from “plausible and necessary” improvements to the county’s existing rail infrastructure.

His own informal feasibility study with a rail consultant threw up a figure of “£1 billion for starters”, with “practically zero” chance of it being built, he claimed.

Calling the idea “fruitbat loopy”, Coun Jim Kenyon accused its LibDem backers of “making some noise ahead of the election next year”.

Council leader Jonathan Lester was sympathetic as, from his own Bromyard ward, “you could be in Worcester in 10-15 minutes had we not had the railway taken away from us”.

“Whether this passes or not, this administration will press for government support for rail initiatives in Herefordshire,” he added.

In a named vote, the motion passed by 21 votes to 18, with seven abstentions

It proposes that the feasibility study report back in 12 months’ time.