Settle to Carlisle Line supporters set out aspirations for the railway

Faster and more frequent trains, better connections to major cities like London and Glasgow and a new timetable are among the 16 changes called for by the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line (FoSCL).

“Frankly it ought to be the jewel in the crown of England’s rail network, and to be honest it isn’t – it’s a bit of a disappointment,” FoSCL chairman Richard Morris told the Gazette.

“It could be two things: it could be a major generator of tourist income for the Eden Valley and Carlisle, and also it could be much more developed as a long-distance route.”

The support group was formed in the 1980s to campaign for the line to stay open, and is made up entirely of volunteers. Its aspirations for the railway’s future are set out in a prospectus aimed at the three companies bidding to run passenger services on the line from 2016.

The document says the railway is regarded as “some sort of country branch line” rather than “England’s third route to Scotland”, and its potential as a strategic through route is “unexploited”.

The line needs to “resume its role on the national strategic scene”, says FoSCL, and it urges an increase in today’s maximum line speed of 60mph, saying the route was built for 90mph.

The group is calling for passing places to be created to cope with mixed passenger and freight traffic, to avoid “big delays”, and it says that the timetable has “remained stagnant” since the railway was saved from closure in 1989, with “big gaps and anomalies”.

FoSCL wants to see an “hourly, clock face timetable” introduced, adding that commuter stock “will not do” on a three-hour journey. “Tourist-friendly stock of world standard” is the aspiration, and “liveried” trains would be welcomed to tap into the “immense value and potential” of the Settle-Carlisle brand image.

FoSCL says that passengers are “increasingly frustrated” by connections at Leeds and Carlisle, which “need to fit” with trains on to London, Glasgow and Newcastle.

Mr Morris said: “It's got enormous potential but the problem is basically lack of government money these days. If we invest in better trains and better services we could bring a lot more tourists in. Think what that would do for the Cumbrian economy.”

He said FoSCL knew the line “better than anyone” and was “best placed to say what it needed”, adding: “This is the potential of the line. How we get from here to there is another question.”