Hopes for Waterside rail line to reopen for passenger trains

A test train ran on the line in 2020

Plans to reopen a disused branch rail line look set to go ahead.

The Waterside line between Southampton and Fawley closed to regular passengers in 1966 but had been used for occasional freight trains.

Network Rail has backed the idea of running a shuttle passenger service part way along the line.

Campaigners had called for it to be reopened to help ease traffic congestion from new housing developments.

The latest plan is scaled back from previous mooted attempts to reopen the six-mile (10km) branch line - the proposals only take the line as far as Hythe, rather than Fawley oil refinery.

With the line used until for freight trains until 2017, much of the track and infrastructure remained in place, although the Marchwood signalling facilities would need upgrading and a new station would have to be built at Hythe.

Network Rail said it would progress the idea of a regular passenger service, boosted by plans for large housing developments at Fawley as well as the need to reduce traffic congestion.

Marchwood station was last used by passenger trains in 1966

Network Rail's Annamarie Compton said: "We've got to deliver a scheme that is affordable and it's got to be attractive.

"At the moment the costs of going all the way to Fawley Parkway are just adding up in terms of new infrastructure needed."

Nick Farthing of the Three Rivers Rail Partnership, which has led efforts to revive the line, said it was a "disappointment" not to have it fully reopened as far as Fawley

"The main thing is the railway is coming. If we can get it as far as Hythe to start with, then I'm confident we can get it as far as where a park and ride is planned at the refinery gates."

It is hoped a passenger service could be running on the line in three years.

Analysis

By Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

Since a test train ran to Fawley in 2020, plans to reopen the line have evolved slowly - very slowly.

There was ambitious talk of battery-powered trains. That too could be scaled back - a 35-year-old-diesel seems more likely.

There's a lot to do. The old signal box at Marchwood, with its heavy mechanical levers, would have to be modernised.

So would many level crossings, some are currently hand-operated.

Now with Network Rail backing, reopening is looking more likely than at any point in the last half century.

Trains could be running in a couple of years. But the deal isn't done, yet. There are more hurdles still to clear.