Successful meeting for campaigners looking to reinstate the Peaks and Dales Railway

Campaigners from the Manchester and East Midlands Rail Action Partnership (MEMRAP) led a meeting at the Uniting Reformed Church Whaley Bridge to discuss the reinstatement of the former Midland Railways mainline through the Peaks & Dales of Derbyshire.

The cold snap of wintry weather proved off-putting for the latest public presentation.

Stephen Chaytow from the group, said: “An opportunity for wider public engagement was lost, however, as the three candidates for the forthcoming East Midlands mayoral election heeded the Met Office weather warnings by not attempting travel to the High Peak on the day.

“A perfect demonstration of how the borough has been effectively isolated from the rest of Derbyshire and the southeast since the closure of the railway in 1968.”

MEMRAP proposes upgrading of 23 miles of existing track, to facilitate passenger traffic as well as the current freight-only, and the reinstatement of 13 miles of railway on existing infrastructure to, once again, link Chinley and Buxton to Ambergate via Matlock by rail.

Plus, re-routing alternatives for a reprovisioned Monsal Trail.

Plans, if approved, would include the recommissioning of former stations, such as Chapel Central, Millers Dale, and at Bakewell, assisting in the Peak District National Park Authority's current road traffic reduction drive to encourage as many as possible of its 13 million annual visitors to access its leisure facilities by public transport, rather than private car.

Stephen fielded queries on various issues including how the Peaks and Dales line would help alleviate rail traffic from the overburdened west coast mainline following cancellation of HS2; the integration of cycling infrastructure with a future rail network; to the inertia within Derbyshire County Council to progressing the line reinstatement, and its apparent opposition to it.

County councillor Ruth George, representing the division of Whaley Bridge was at the meeting and pledged to work with the newly created mayor, in her capacity as deputy leader of the DCC Labour group.

The next stage for the campaign, Stephen says, will be to achieve funding for a mandatory Strategic Outline Business Study, which, in Ruth’s opinion, should be completed as soon as possible and become a priority via the office of the new Mayor.