Funding for restoration of Rochdale-Heywood-Bury railway line falls through

The restoration of the Rochdale-Heywood-Bury railway line will no longer be going ahead, despite a successful application under the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund.

The ‘Restoring Your Railway Fund’ aims to reinstate axed local services and restore closed stations, and the application to restore the Bury–Heywood–Rochdale line was successful in the first step.
 

Read more: Successful first step to restore Rochdale-Heywood-Bury railway linePublished: 26 May 2020

However, the application will now no longer progress due to “cost and wider capacity challenges.”

The Minister of State for Transport informed local MPs Chris Clarkson, Sir Tony Lloyd and James Daly (Bury North) that the application would not progress further owing to "cost and wider capacity challenges", going on to state that "that the scheme would be best considered as part of Greater Manchester’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) programme."

The Greater Manchester five-year delivery plan, which was published last year by TfGM, shows the Bury-Heywood-Rochdale route to be of key consideration with the corridor highlighted as being suitable for intervention.

TfGM is currently undertaking a tram-train pathfinder project, but as it stands, funding only covers the pilot tram-train from Heywood to Oldham.

 

 

Rochdale MP Sir Tony Lloyd, who originally welcomed the funding, has now slammed the government for pulling support.

He said: "The government's announcement is a kick in the teeth for Rochdale and Greater Manchester.

"Tram and rail services from Rochdale to Manchester provide transport to the city centre but it doesn't provide the kind of connections we need to get around the city region, and in particular, from Rochdale and Heywood to Bury.

"Whilst there are future plans for tram-train services between Oldham, Rochdale, Heywood and Bury, these are way down the line and Transport for Greater Manchester are still looking at ways on how to fund this which will only be made more difficult with the withdrawal of this support.

"The Conservatives talk big on investing in economic growth and levelling up our communities, but when it comes to taking decisive action they're nowhere to be seen.

"At the end of the day, it's businesses and communities across Rochdale, and Heywood to Bury, which will lose out, not to mention the now-missed opportunities in reducing carbon emissions. The government must look at this decision again."

Mr Lloyd has urged the government to look at the decision again.

However, all may not be lost.

The government says that the scheme would be ‘best considered’ as part of Greater Manchester’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) programme.

And that appears to be in line with Rochdale council’s thinking on the issue.

Councillor John Blundell, cabinet member for economy and regeneration told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are sad to hear that the government isn’t funding rail schemes.

“However, we want them to fund our priorities which are a tram-train in between Heywood and Rochdale, a new station at Heywood that would allow heavy rail services to run from Heywood to Victoria.”

According to official papers the tram train is expected to open in 2029 under the CRSTS funding.

Councillor Blundell also points out the importance of the East Lancashire Railway (ELR), a hugely successful heritage attraction that runs between Rawtenstall and Heywood.

Heywood station was closed to normal passenger services in 1970 and has been used by the ELR since 2003.

“Whatever we do must be complementary to the ELR,” Councillor Blundell said. “The proposal of putting a fully operating passenger service on the line would put the ELR under threat and therefore was never a favourite of the [Rochdale] council.”

Mr Clarkson has also been contacted for comment.

Additional reporting: Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporting Service