Reopening rail lines across the country would go a long way to improving public transport and tackling rail overcrowding.
Below are some lines people are campaigning to have reopened - or at least protected from development so that they can later be reopened. We've also compiled a priority list. Our work to protect and reopen rail lines and improve train travel relies on donations; please consider supporting us.
We want your help: If you have a photograph of a closed line or want to suggest a line be added to this list, please email us: campaigns@bettertransport.org.uk
South East
South West
East of England
East Midlands
West Midlands
Yorkshire & the Humber
North East
North West
Wales
South East
- Aylesbury & Bicester - Bletchley
- Haywards Heath - Horsted Keynes
- Shanklin - Ventnor
- Uckfield - Lewes (The Wealden Line Campaign is campaigning on behalf of this line)
- The Tunbridge Wells link via Tunbridge Wells West to Eridge, connecting to the Uckfield - Lewes line. This would reconnect the cross-country line from Kent to East Sussex (The Wealden Line Campaign is campaigning on behalf of this line)
- The 'Cuckoo Line', Polegate to Tunbridge Wells
- Guildford - Horsham via Cranleigh
- Princes Risborough - Oxford
- Oxford - Fairford via Withey
- Aylesbury - Rugby
- Finsbury Park - Alexandra Palace (Muswell Hill Metro Group is campaigning on behalf of this line)
- Didcot - Newbury - Southampton
- Bourne End - High Wycombe (The High Wycombe Society is campaigning for a light rail scheme)
- Maldon - South Woodham Ferrers or Hatfield Peverel
- Shenfield East curve. This would enable trains to run directly from Southend to the County town of Chelmsford
- Hythe and Fawley: Totton – Hythe – Fawley
South West
- Okehampton - Tavistock - Bere Alston
- Portishead - Bristol (The Portishead Railway Group is campaigning on behalf of this line)
- Stratford - Cheltenham (South West, West Midlands)
- Bristol - Oxford
- Axminster - Lyme Regis
- Exmouth - Budleigh Salterton - Sidmouth
- Yeovil - Taunton
- Chard Junction - Chard Town - Taunton
- Exeter - Bude
- A railway line linking Yeovil Junction station to the Westbury-Weymouth line
- Newton Abbot - Moretonhampstead
- Frome - Radstock
- Somerset and Dorset Railway, from Bath to Bournemouth (a line a local group is actively campaigning for)
- Banbury - Cheltenham
East of England
- Braintree - Stansted
- Hitchin - Bedford
- Spalding - March
- Watford - Croxley Green
- Cambridge - Bedford
- Cambridge - St Neots - Huntingdon
- Six Mile Bottom on the Ipswich - Cambridge line
- Norwich - Fakenham - Little Walsingham -Wells Next The Sea
- Saxmundham - Leiston
- Dunstable - Luton
- Beccles - Haddiscoe
East Midlands
- Bedford - Northampton
- Kettering - St Ives
- Leicester - Coalville - Burton
- Leicester - Aylesbury (East Midlands, South East)
- Matlock - Buxton (East Midlands, North West)
- Darnall - Sheffield Victoria and Stocksbridge
- Mansfield - Southwell - Rolleston Junction - Newark
- Northampton - Market Harborough, via Brampton, Brixworth, Lamport and Kelmarsh
West Midlands
- Hampton in Arden - Whitacre Junction
- Kenilworth - Berkswell
- Longbridge - Frankley
- Leek - Stoke
- Rugby - Southam
- Walsall - Lichfield
- Redditch - Evesham
- Hereford - Brecon via Hay on Wye
- Shrewsbury - Bridgnorth (linked with the Severn Valley railway line)
- Stourbridge-Dudley-Walsall (Proponents have put a petition on the Number 10 website about this line)
Yorkshire & the Humber
- Harrogate - Ripon - Northallerton
- Oakenshaw South Junction - Goose Hill Junction
- Malton - Pickering (There's a petition on the Government's No. 10 website calling for this reopening)
- Swinton/Mexborough - Cudworth
- Silkstone - Wath - Mexborough
- Hadfield - Penistone - Deepcar (Woodhead route) (Yorkshire and the Humber, North West)
- Redmire - Garsdale (Yorkshire and the Humber, North West)
- Leeds - Wetherby
- Darlington - Richmond
- Middlesborough - Guisborough
- York - Pocklington - Market Weighton - Beverley - Hull (a line actively being promoted by the Minsters Rail Campaign)
- Leeds - Otley, via Ilkley Line
- Spen Valley line from Low Moor to Thornhill
- Hull - Hornsea
- Hull - Withernsea
- Hull - Little Weighton - North Cave
- Harrogate - Ripon - Northallerton
- Skipton - Grassington
- Skipton - Embsay - Bolton Abbey - Addingham
- A cross-city rail link for Bradford between Interchange and Forster Square stations
North East
North West
- Manchester - Sheffield (Save the Woodhead Tunnel is campaigning on behalf of this line)
- Manchester - Mayfield Station Lines
- Penrith - Keswick (find out more from a local website)
- Carlisle - Galashiels (Waverley Route)
- Partington - Glazebrook
- Skipton - Colne (North West, Yorkshire and the Humber) (The Skipton and East Lancashire Railway Action Partnership is campaigning on behalf of this line. They have a No 10 Petition to re-open this line with over 1000 signatures.)
- Burscough - Burscough Curves
- Preston - Southport line
- Deeside ind park - Sealand - Saughall - Blacon - Chester Liverpool Rd - Newton - Northwich
- The Todmorden Curve, requires just 400 yards of track and would allow fast direct trains from Manchester to Burnley and Colne.
- Wigan - Coppull - Euxton (visit the Re-open Coppull Train Station FaceBook page)
Wales
- Amlwch branch
- Bangor - Caernarfon
- Blaenau Ffestiniog - Trawsfynydd
- Coryton to Radyr or Taffs Well
- Aberystwyth - Carmarthen
- Caernarfon - Bangor
- Beddau - Pontyclun
- Hirwaun (or Aberdare) - Glyn Neath
- Criccieth - Caernarvon (or Bangor)
- Merthyr (or Dowlais) - Brecon, Builth and Machynlleth
- Pontrilais - Hay on Wye
- Barmouth to Ruabon
- Penarth to Barry direct route (parallel to Vale of Glamorgan route)
- Hereford - Brecon via Hay on Wye
- Porth - Maerdy
- Neath - Glynneath -- with Glynneath then linking up with Hirwaun and Aberdare if the line to Hirwaun is reopened
- Brynmawr-Abergavenny
Campaign for a reopening
If you think a rail line or station near you should be reopened, our campaigning guide will help you. You could also work with transport campaigning groups in your area.