The Lewes MP says the battle to reinstate the railway line between Lewes and Uckfield goes on. He was commenting after the publication on Tuesday of the long-awaited Network Rail report into the matter, a report commissioned by the Central Rail Corridor Board on which the MP sits.
The Report concluded that while reinstatement of the line was certainly feasible in practical terms, and that it would make an operational profit when up and running, the reinstatement costs could not be justified under the Department for Transport's present formula.
Norman Baker says: "It is good to have confirmation that there are no physical obstacles to reinstatement that cannot be overcome, and also that the line, when up and running, would be operationally profitable. These conclusions are in line with earlier sketchier assessments.
"In respect of the conclusion that the cost of reinstatement cannot be justified, there are, I think, three key factors to bear in mind when considering the report.
"Firstly, the Board decided very early on to cost a scheme that was as cheap as possible. While that obviously kept cost estimates down, it meant that what was being considered was a line from Lewes to East Croydon that was limited, because of the constraints of the existing line and East Croydon station, to two trains an hour maximum on unimproved track, much of it single track only. That meant that the benefits of providing an alternative line to London were limited, and the model showed that with this arrangement, most of the extra traffic would be going south to Lewes and Brighton. Given the need to create extra train paths at East Croydon anyway in the medium term, it would have been interesting to have costed a much improved, doubled, electrified line with extra capacity at the East Croydon bottleneck. That would obviously have been much more expensive, but the benefits would have been considerably greater too.
"Secondly, the transport formula Network Rail is required by the government to use to calculate benefits is loaded against rail schemes, something which even the government recognises. There is in fact a full consultation on the NATA formula now underway and it would be interesting to have the scheme costed against whatever new formula emerges.
"Thirdly, the terms of reference for Network Rail meant insufficient attention was given to the medium term factors that will undoubtedly make reinstatement more attractive. These include the projected increase in passenger numbers from Sussex to London over the next 15 years which there will not be enough capacity to handle, and the rocketing cost of oil which makes rail travel more attractive.
The MP concluded: "It is obviously disappointing that it's not full steam ahead, but there is enough in the report and coming down the track to conclude that the battle goes on."
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