Connecting communities

"Connecting communities" was commissioned by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and written by Chris Austin. We made a submission to ATOC that greater consideration should be given to the MNR route.

Part of this submission was as follows:
"We greatly welcome the work that ATOC has undertaken, which reflects on a wider stage our own initiatives in East Anglia over the last few years. We should like to meet ATOC in order to explore further the possibility of Norwich – Dereham – Fakenham services for which we suggest there is greater evidence of potential than is indicated in “Connecting Communities”. The entire trackbed from Dereham to Fakenham, including a terminus site at Fakenham, is already protected in the Local Plan and will be protected in the new Local Development Framework as you advocate."

"Norfolk County Council’s 2004 estimated population figure for Dereham is 16,860, to which can be added a significant number in the immediately adjacent villages. The 2004 figure for Fakenham adds a further 7,295. In both cases the LDF makes provision for substantial new housing in the next few years: 1,000 houses in the case of Dereham and 860 to 980 in the case of Fakenham."

"The route has been protected partly because Norfolk County Council has concluded that it has potential as a freight route as well as for passenger purposes. If that is fulfilled, it is obviously likely to improve the business case. We are surprised by your estimate of £30m to upgrade the Dereham – Wymondham section, given that it is already a functioning passenger railway, although we are, of course, aware of the need to revise the junction with Network Rail at Wymondham and to mechanise the level crossings. It seems a large sum compared with the £12m that you estimate for the Wisbech line, which is in a comparatively derelict state, without a station in Wisbech or a functioning junction with Network Rail but with a larger number of level crossings than on the Dereham -Wymondham line. Although they did not look specifically at the Dereham – Wymondham section, the report that W.S.Atkins did for us (allowing for inflation in costs since the date of their work) indicated lower costs for a basic railway."

In the event nothing came of it and the whole Connecting Communities project seems to have been put on the back burner though may well be revised under present government thinking.