Swanage to Wareham rail service to be restored

Author: Ashley Curtis - 14 February 2013

A train service in Dorset is set to be reinstated after a 41 year hiatus, reports bbc.co.uk.

Thanks to a £1.47 million grant, a service on the 10-mile stretch between Swanage, Corfe Castle and Wareham will be restored, with the first train set to depart by Spring 2015.

The grant comes from a government fund titled 'Coastal Community Fund' and the cash be spent on upgrading the track, replacing bridges to fit in with the station design and bringing back two 1960s heritage diesel bus trains. The fund will also pay for legal permission to allow the trains to run.

When the restoration is complete, trial services will be planned for a period of 50 days in 2015 and 90 days in 2016, with a view to a year-round service in the future.

Peter Sills, chairman of Swanage Railway Company Ltd, commented on the development to thebreaker.com: "We are elated at this tremendous and very historic news because the Swanage Railway has been campaigned to bring back regular trains from Swanage and Corfe Castle to Wareham since 1972 when British Rail controversially axed the service.

"It took British Rail just seven weeks to lift the seven miles of track between Furzebrook, Corfe Castle and Swanage but 30 long years for the Swanage Railway to relay it," he added.