Blog - CRIL

Burton to Leicester Railway (Ivanhoe Line) Reopening Gets The Green Light

Post author By carlbenfield
Post date June 18, 2022
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Our Full Press Release Follows:

Rail Minister Wendy Morton today announced that the case to reopen
the Burton to Leicester Railway line to passengers has been approved to
the next stage.

SWADLINCOTE DERBYSHIRE 18 NOVEMBER 2021

Today the Rail Minister, Wendy Morton MP, announced that she will support 10 proposals to reopen closed passenger lines in England. One of these is the proposal submitted by CRIL (The campaign to reopen the Ivanhoe Line) to reopen the railway from Burton to Leicester to passengers.

Funding will be provided to Network Rail to lead the next stage of
development work in collaboration with the Campaign to Reopen the Ivanhoe Line (CRIL). This will be released in a phased approach,with the work assessed as it progresses to support decisions on continuing development towards a full Outline Business Case and the decision to proceed with implementation.

The Department will continue working with CRIL and Network Rail on the development of this scheme, and are in touch with Douglas McLay and Bruce Wakley (CRIL) regarding next steps.

Wendy Morton said “The Department’s assessment considered the strategic and economic case presented, deliverability of the scheme and infrastructure requirements, with a focus on the transport issue and strength of case for intervention. This scheme presents significant potential to improve connectivity for communities along the route of the Ivanhoe Line and I look forward to seeing it progress.”

CRIL Spokesman Douglas McLay said “ We are delighted with this announcement which brings the re-opening of the Ivanhoe Line much closer. Passenger services on the Line would provide real value for the relatively modest government investment needed. The reopening of this railway would give a real boost to the often forgotten populations of South Derbyshire and Northwest Leicestershire. We look forward to working closely with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to deliver a railway service which meets the needs of local people”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

CRIL (The Campaign for the Re-opening of the Ivanhoe Line) was formed by the late Geoff Bushell in 2019. He tirelessly raised awareness and support for the reopening of the Ivanhoe Line and formed a team of volunteer specialists to support him. He gained the public support of all nine first and second tier local authorities along the line, as well as all the local MPs, all of whom continue to support the Campaign.

The proposal to restore passenger services between Burton on Trent and
Leicester,and to communities along the route, was included in the first phase of the RYR programme following a submission by CRIL. CRIL received government and local authority funding to prepare a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) which was submitted to the Department of Transport in May 2021. This SOBC now has full DFT support

Business

East Midlands Chamber

As part of our business outreach, we’ve engaged with the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, the second largest Chamber in the UK, to help showcase what the re-opening of the line will mean.

EMC have kindly published a short article about the commercial importance of the line, which you can read here.

Business

Business Liaison

One of the distinguishing features of the Ivanhoe Line is that it is intended for both commercial and leisure use. Along the 30 mile length, there are thousands of businesses that will benefit from having better transport links for both their employees and customers.

So we’re delighted to welcome Stacey Ash to our team as our business liaison officer.

Stacey has a career in financial services spanning over 30 years. He moved to Church Gresley in 1993 and has been keen to see the Ivanhoe line reopen to passenger traffic ever since. He is currently Chairman of Swadlincote 41 Club, a member of CRIL and Railfuture and is passionate about the campaign. He is married with three children.

We’re looking forward to having businesses back what we’re doing and give us an even stronger voice as we compete nationally to get our line re-opened.

Financial Political

CRIL Market Stall

CRIL staff hard at work manning our stall at Coalville indoor market yesterday. A very successful event providing an opportunity to meet the public and hear their views and to sell our calendar. Sales went well and we recommend placing orders to crilchair@gmail.com to avoid disappointment.

Financial Political

CRIL Market Stall

We have booked a stall in the Coalville indoor market on Saturday 26th September. In the absence of events due to Covid this is one way of meeting people to gather support for our campaign. It will also provide an opportunity to sell the CRIL calendar which will give our campaigns a much needed boost.

Uncategorized

CRIL Calendar

We are pleased to announce that the first CRIL calendar has been produced and that we are ready to receive orders. A limited amount has been printed and are available on a “first come, first served” basis.

The cost of the calendar is £8.50 + £1.40 postage = £9.90.

Please send your orders by email providing your full address and post code and make payment through PayPal to admin@ivanhoeline.org adding “calendar” as the reference.

Alternatively you can write to us at: CRIL Calendar, PO Box 8382, Swadlincote, DE11 1GY enclosing a cheque payable to “Campaign to Reopen the Ivanhoe Line-CRIL CIC”.

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