Rail lines closed during the notorious Beeching cuts of the 1960s could be reopened, the Transport Secretary has announced.

Chris Grayling said he wants to identify which routes would boost the economy, encourage house-building and ease overcrowding.

Restoring lost capacity is one of a number of reforms featured in the Government’s new rail strategy.

There are plans to split the troubled Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise when the current contract with Govia Thameslink Railway comes to an end in 2021.

A public consultation has been opened on splitting up the Great Western Railway franchise. It is proposed that one franchise would focus on regional services and another on long-distance routes.

The strategy also includes publicly-owned Network Rail sharing its responsibility for running the tracks with private train operators.

Joint teams managing day-to-day operations will be rolled out across the South Eastern network with a new Alliance Director being introduced to take overall responsibility.

Mr Grayling said: “The last few years have seen massive growth on Britain’s railways. This industry has reversed decades of decline under British Rail, delivered new investment and new trains, and doubled the number of passengers.”

This story tells us:

More than 300,000 tonnes of unstable rock and soil has to be removed near Dawlish in a controlled landslip.

Network Rail hopes the Royal Engineers will be able to use specialist equipment to remove part of the rock face so the line can be reinstated.

It added it hoped the line would still be reopened on 4 April.

Network Rail said it was unable to work below the area close to Teignmouth Road, Dawlish, because of the risk of rock and soil collapsing.

Rail bosses are considering blasting the rock face and even using a specialist tug based at Falmouth, Cornwall, to fire water at the cliff.

If you are interested in transport issues more broadly, the RSN is holding a transport seminar in Stevenage on 20 March. Presenters include John Birtwistle from First Group (‘addressing the challenges faced by rural bus operators’) and Colin Walker from East Riding of Yorkshire Council (‘how far can rural transport reach?’). To book your free place at this event please email Wendy.Cooper@sparse.gov.uk

The CBT believes that the rising cost of rail fares is in danger of putting train travel out of reach for many people. Apparently, the UK’s railway is up to 40% less efficient than its European counterparts and has some of the highest rail fares in the world – some season tickets now cost the equivalent of one-fifth of the average UK salary.

The Fair Fares Now campaign includes a month of action at 40 key commuter stations and an online petition. This campaign fits with the Rail Value for Money study which put forward a wide range of recommendations which, if implemented, could deliver savings between £700 million and £1 billion annually by 2019.

On a serious note, with continuing growth in passenger numbers and freight, actions need to be taken to address problems with the efficiency and cost of the infrastructure. On a lighter note, as a frequent rail passenger and enthusiast, it reminds me of George Bradshaw’s railway timetables, how much I’d like to take a trip on the Northern Belle and celebrate the recently launched direct Lincoln-London train service!

I have been receiving regular updates from those lobbying against HS2 on their activities and I applaud their hard work. Moving away from the conservation perspective (and I am keeping my views firmly neutral) I do like the theoretical idea of linking London and Birmingham to diffuse some of the mono-City economic effects of London more widely.

It seems to me the challenge is about how best to achieve this practically and perhaps there are other ways to do it linked to ICT and focused investment (one of the first enterprise zones announced in the budget will be in Birmingham) and on this basis is the idea of this extremely expensive new piece of infrastructure barking up the wrong tree?