Dales link wins new friends
Transport for the North has asked for a strategic outline business case to be drawn up for reinstatement of the former Midland Railway route from Matlock to Buxton.
Mott McDonald estimates that the cost of compiling a business case will be £100,000, leaving identification of a source of funding as the immediate priority for campaigners.
Railfuture reports that Derbyshire County Council will need to be involved, although the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire is understood to be unwilling to provide funding in the short term. Railfuture members have therefore been asked to propose ideas for raising the cash, and have been presenting the case at events including the Midlands Development Conference in Coventry in May.
Key obstacles to reinstatement include accommodating the popular Monsal Trail, and the Peak Rail heritage line which both use separate parts of the route.
We've read it in: Railwatch, July 2019, p3
