Better Transport

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

• Alnmouth - Alnwick
• Ferryhill - Pelaw (Leamside Branch)
• Ashington Blyth and Tyne (South East Northumberland Rail User Group is campaigning on behalf of this line)

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.