How to Close a Railway

The How To Series No. 2

How To Close A Railway

This is a railway line. These red dots are stations. The red lines mark main roads, the blue lines are motorways, the yellow lines are B roads, the white ones are local roads, and thin brownish lines mark the contours.

Now before you start to close a railway you have to see if it is possible. If you want to close the West Coast Mainline or the old Network SouthEast then you will have to go through lots of silly paperwork and would probably find it impossible to prove any case except that some of the stock used to be a bit old - and we all know that. That case also disappeared during 2005 with the end of nearly all the old trains.

However, this innocent little branch line (black line up map, left) will prove to us quite nicely how you go about it.

On each side is the scoreboard, showing the number of trains on the left and the number of buses on the right. Period stock is used.

Start by eliminating any service from the timetable which loses more than £1 per year (petty cash is difficult to prove - it helps if you can "prove" a loss of over £30,000). Preferably do this in winter if the line goes to a beach resort, or in summer if it goes to a mountain climbing or skiing one. Also get rid of any spare excursion stock or engines you find lying around in sidings out of season.

Then you close any unprofitable stations.

Now if you have a really busy line, lots of people will come and use it from a long way off because they know that if they miss a train another will be along soon. Also, they know the line will be there if they want it. When you cut down on the service, there are fewer trains when people want them. They find other forms of transport, and people like to standardise on things, like one form of public transport and either a car or a taxi. So less people use the railway and often forms of competition will appear. Therefore, we now have a fleet of buses (probably pirate buses) emerging, marked by their buses on the right.

Now you close stations which are unprofitable, or at least if they aren't they should be. Those two innocent little stations a long way from their towns will do just fine.

White, as you may have guessed, marks a closed station on an open railway.

Now you repeat the cycle.

When you have as few DMUs as possible, you lift the last section of double track and knock it down to single. The section between the last two stations has now been singled.

And we won't be needing that station again, so we sell off the buildings and demolish the platforms.

Now we have a minimal line with very few trains - known in positive jargon as a "basic" railway. Due to the long section of single track, we have a poor service to the top station. The entire line is now hardly patronised at all, so we single it all except for the middle station.

Also, we now we get rid of the third unit.

Next we take out the second unit on off-peak duties.

Then we put up peak hour fares because we have to run an extra train which doubles operating costs and remove the second unit because there is now an odd lack of passengers during the peak hour (obviously).

Then we get rid of the passing loop, sack the staff, and close the buildings. This is called turning a station into a halt. This is even more of a basic railway, and such things can be seen in Cornwall, Northern England, most of Scotland, and parts of Wales.

The most popular next move is to say "Look, we've got all this line that we don't really want because there's several miles of it and not one station until we reach the top. We can serve the local community much better if we close those last few miles and put a more intensive rail service on the bottom two stations."

The you sell off the land to developers or the local Railway Preservation organisation. Or both.

The next move is to announce that income is so low that you cannot afford to maintain trains, track, fencing and structures.

Settle and Carlisle enthusiasts know what's coming next.

Now you declare that patronage is still low, the line is unremunerative, the buildings need rebuilding, the route goes nowhere and you can't afford new trains. You close the line.

Also demolish the viaducts (this is possible even with the listed ones), landscape tunnel portals, and build on the stations.

Of course there is probably going to be a preservation society trying to reopen the line (there generally is), but the demolition of viaducts and redeveloped stations mean that they'll never get anywhere.

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29/11/05

	This is a railway line. These red dots are stations. The red lines mark main roads, the blue lines are motorways, the yellow lines are B roads, the white ones are local roads, and thin brownish lines mark the contours. Now before you start to close a railway you have to see if it is possible. If you want to close the West Coast Mainline or the old Network SouthEast then you will have to go through lots of silly paperwork and would probably find it impossible to prove any case except that some of the stock used to be a bit old - and we all know that. That case also disappeared during 2005 with the end of nearly all the old trains. However, this innocent little branch line (black line up map, left) will prove to us quite nicely how you go about it. On each side is the scoreboard, showing the number of trains on the left and the number of buses on the right. Period stock is used. Start by eliminating any service from the timetable which loses more than £1 per year (petty cash is difficult to prove - it helps if you can "prove" a loss of over £30,000). Preferably do this in winter if the line goes to a beach resort, or in summer if it goes to a mountain climbing or skiing one. Also get rid of any spare excursion stock or engines you find lying around in sidings out of season.
	Then you close any unprofitable stations. Now if you have a really busy line, lots of people will come and use it from a long way off because they know that if they miss a train another will be along soon. Also, they know the line will be there if they want it. When you cut down on the service, there are fewer trains when people want them. They find other forms of transport, and people like to standardise on things, like one form of public transport and either a car or a taxi. So less people use the railway and often forms of competition will appear. Therefore, we now have a fleet of buses (probably pirate buses) emerging, marked by their buses on the right. Now you close stations which are unprofitable, or at least if they aren't they should be. Those two innocent little stations a long way from their towns will do just fine. White, as you may have guessed, marks a closed station on an open railway. Now you repeat the cycle.
	When you have as few DMUs as possible, you lift the last section of double track and knock it down to single. The section between the last two stations has now been singled. And we won't be needing that station again, so we sell off the buildings and demolish the platforms. Now we have a minimal line with very few trains - known in positive jargon as a "basic" railway. Due to the long section of single track, we have a poor service to the top station. The entire line is now hardly patronised at all, so we single it all except for the middle station. Also, we now we get rid of the third unit.
	Next we take out the second unit on off-peak duties. Then we put up peak hour fares because we have to run an extra train which doubles operating costs and remove the second unit because there is now an odd lack of passengers during the peak hour (obviously). Then we get rid of the passing loop, sack the staff, and close the buildings. This is called turning a station into a halt. This is even more of a basic railway, and such things can be seen in Cornwall, Northern England, most of Scotland, and parts of Wales. The most popular next move is to say "Look, we've got all this line that we don't really want because there's several miles of it and not one station until we reach the top. We can serve the local community much better if we close those last few miles and put a more intensive rail service on the bottom two stations."
	The you sell off the land to developers or the local Railway Preservation organisation. Or both. The next move is to announce that income is so low that you cannot afford to maintain trains, track, fencing and structures. Settle and Carlisle enthusiasts know what's coming next. Now you declare that patronage is still low, the line is unremunerative, the buildings need rebuilding, the route goes nowhere and you can't afford new trains. You close the line.
	Also demolish the viaducts (this is possible even with the listed ones), landscape tunnel portals, and build on the stations. Of course there is probably going to be a preservation society trying to reopen the line (there generally is), but the demolition of viaducts and redeveloped stations mean that they'll never get anywhere.