Isle of Wight rail line reopens 10 months after £26m overhaul

The first passenger train left Ryde St John’s Road at 05:35 GMY

Trains are running again on a railway line 10 months after it closed for a £26m upgrade.

The Isle of Wight's Island Line closed in January and had been expected to be up and running again by March.

The reopening had to be put back after work fell behind schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic, software issues and, in the summer, flash flooding.

The first passenger train left earlier from Ryde St Johns Road station at 05:35 GMT.

However, a fire next to the track shortly before 16:00 resulted in trains being temporarily replaced by a shuttle service between St Johns Road and Pier Head.

The previous fleet of trains were built in 1938 for the London Underground network, before starting service on the Isle of Wight in 1989

The railway's old 1938 tube trains trains have been replaced by refurbished London Underground trains, and its tracks and platforms have been upgraded.

South Western Railway (SWR) said the work to improve the track, "will greatly improve the ride comfort compared to the bumpy ride from the previous trains and track".

To start with the service is running with one train per hour.

The track at Ryde St John's Road railway station after flooding in August

The work has been funded by the Department for Transport, Isle of Wight Council and Solent Local Enterprise Partnership.

Island Line railway operates between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin, serving Smallbrook Junction, Brading, Sandown and Lake stations.

It transports about 1.5 million passengers in a normal year.

Island Line upgrade

• Includes a new passing loop at Brading to allow trains to run half-hourly to Ryde pier to connect with Portsmouth ferry services

• Existing trains that date from 1938 were replaced with five refurbished London Underground trains from the District Line

• One of the trains, which has operated since the late 1980s, to be preserved at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway

• Upgrades were paid for by the Department for Transport, with £1m for the passing loop coming jointly from Isle of Wight Council and Solent Local Enterprise Partnership