New Perspective on Norden to Wareham Missing Link - July 1998

Report by APM Wright - July 31st 1998

Swanage Railway volunteers are welcoming John Prescott’s £1.8 billion transport White Paper which they hope will speed up the achievement of a 26 year dream - re-establishment of trains from Swanage and Corfe Castle to Wareham for the first time since 1972.

The Government's historic £1.8 billion White Paper on working towards an integrated transport system for the Millennium that Labour says is the most important step forward in 20 years has been welcomed by Swanage Railway volunteers.

The Purbeck Line members are hopeful the national step forward will speed up the achievement of a 26 year old dream - the re-establishment of passenger trains from Swanage and Corfe Castle to Railtrack at Wareham for the first time since January, 1 972.

Deputy Prime Minister and transport chief John Prescott’s blueprint comes as a group of consultants carries out a £15,000 survey and report for the Purbeck Rail Partnership among local people and tourists in Purbeck due to be published in the Autumn.

Their task is to ascertain the level of demand for trains between the Swanage Railway and Wareham, the 350,000 people Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch conurbation and as far afield as Brockenhurst in the New Forest.

Re-establishing the rail link between the Swanage Railway’s relaid Purbeck Line and the Railtrack network at Wareham is the aim of the Purbeck Rail Partnership. That is made up of the Dorset county and Purbeck district councils, Swanage Railway, Government bodies such as the Rural Development, and Countryside commissions, and Railtrack.

Less than a mile of track remains to be laid from the Swanage Railway at Norden to Railtrack, half a mile east of Furzebrook which is on the three-mile freight line from Worgret Junction, west of Wareham, to Furzebrook and BP Exploration’s Wytch Farm liquid petroleum gas sidings.

"It’s good to know that the Government is prepared to put in extra money and emphasis to improve public transport," said Swanage Railway Secretary Mark Woolley.

"Hopefully, the Government’s increasing priority on public transport - railways and park and ride schemes - will increase the chances of achieving a renewed rail link between the Swanage Railway and the Railtrack network.

"Purbeck has become an important commuter belt for the Bournemouth and Poole conurbation. Some 40 per cent of working people living in Swanage actually work in Poole," added Mark who himself lives in Swanage and works for Barclays Bank in Poole.

"Some of the ideas that John Prescott has put into his White Paper such as park and ride schemes - getting the public to leave their cars and take the train - have already been successfully carried out in the Isle of Purbeck. The Swanage Railway is one of several partners such as BP Exploration and English China Clays who have worked with Purbeck District Council in achieving the highly successful park and ride scheme at Norden north of Corfe Castle.

"The car park next to our Norden station has recently been extended from 120 to 240 spaces thanks to a £520,000 - most of the money coming in grants from Government bodies such as the Countryside Commission, the Rural Development Commission, and English Partnerships which specialises in revitalising disused land," added Mark.

The Norden Park and Ride car park was opened as a test 120 space temporary scheme on former clay mine spoil land owned by quarrying giant English China Clays in August, 1995.

The extended £530,000 car park - taking the total number of car park spaces up to 250 and including facilities for the Wilts &Dorset bus service to Waream railway station, coaches and cyclists - was opened in May by Countryside Commission boss Richard Simmonds.

The park and ride scheme at Norden is used by some 60,000 people and 20,000 cars a year. Since it opened in 1995, it has been used by a total of 132,000 people and 44,000 cars.