Article sent to Rail magazine

The possibility of reinstating the Beverley to York line took a step closer when at end of February 2020 a meeting of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council passed unanimously a motion committing it to work closely with Government and partners to assess the feasibility of re-establishing the line, with a view to securing funding from the Department for Transport's Restoring your railway ideas fund for an outline updated feasibility study.  An expression of interest has now been registered with the DfT by sponsoring MP Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) with the active partnership of the Minsters Rail Campaign (which has been pushing for the reinstatement for several years) and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.  The full application spelling out the case for the reinstatement in detail will be submitted in the June round.  The application will highlight the need for rail connectivity for the growing towns of East Yorkshire, and also the lack of resilience of the area's present rail infrastructure.  The rail route from the west that serves Hull and the East Riding is liable to flooding from extreme tidal events and is vulnerable to swing bridge problems at Goole and Selby.  An alternative rail route is needed to prevent the area from being cut off from the rest of the rail network.