Island Line could be extended from Sandown to Newport at an initial cost of £67million under initial plans submitted to the Department for Transport by the Isle of Wight Council.
The authority, supported by Island MP Bob Seely, is seeking government support from the ‘Restoring Your Railway’ programme to further develop the case for reinstating some of the Islands’ lost rail links.
The project will aim to reinstate the disused railway line between the Island Line and Newport, via Blackwater, providing a frequent, fast and reliable railway service from Ryde Pier Head to the Island’s county town – albeit following an indirect route.
The original suggestion was utilising the Isle of Wight Steam Railway track from Smallbrook Junction to Wootton and extending it to Newport, but the business case submitted by the Council now looks at reinstating a railway track from Sandown to Blackwater instead. The plan of utilising the Steam Railway has been ruled out on cost and feasibility grounds.
Extending the existing Island Line to Newport via Blackwater has been identified as the most viable element of the project to be progressed as an initial phase, at an estimated infrastructure cost of £67 million. However, the project could cost up to £110million with annual running costs of 3 trains per hour of up to £3.2million.
The proposal would utilise the former Sandown to Newport railway — the trackbed of which remains very largely intact — to link the existing Island Line to Newport. Existing cycling and walking routes would be retained and enhanced alongside any new rail infrastructure. A new north-facing junction would be created south of Sandown Train Station.
3 trains per hour would run with an end-to-end journey of between 21 and 26 minutes. The ‘new’ section could be built as a hybrid light rail, semi-segregated railway with battery-powered tram-trains or modified Class 484 trains.
Future phases of the project could also enable an extension of the service between Ryde Pier Head and Ventnor, improving accessibility for residents and supporting Ventnor to reach its full potential as a visitor destination. The cost of reinstating the railway from Shanklin to Ventnor via Wroxall could cost around £46million with annual running costs of £1.2million.
Councillor Phil Jordan, Cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, has said extending the Island’s rail network has significant potential to boost the local economy while helping to ease congestion and reduce carbon emissions. He’s said:
“Reinstating this rail link is vital to supporting the economic growth of our Island and to help reduce carbon emissions. It will provide a viable alternative to private car travel by improving journey times and connectivity.
“We’ve submitted a strong case and hope the project will be successful in moving to the next stage. The government has previously signalled support for our ambitions and we’re hopeful they’ll help us progress this scheme further.”
In May 2020, the council received up to £50,000 from the Restoring Your Railways programme to prepare a feasibility study for restoring former rail links between Newport and Ryde and Ventnor and Shanklin. Then, in December 2020, the council appointed a consortium of organisations, led by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR Ltd), to prepare a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) — an early feasibility study — and supporting work.
Bob Seely MP has said:
“This bid is an opportunity to bring about major change and regenerate our towns. It is a vision designed to unlock the Island’s growth and development potential by using transport to connect people to businesses, jobs and education.
“Restoring branch lines between our two main towns would enable greater integration with cross-Solent transport providers, encourage low-carbon travel, bring people closer to town centres and encourage a holistic approach to active and public transport.
“By breaking the cycle of unsustainable, car dependent greenfield development, new transport links into town centres could support a recycling culture of housing within our towns and villages.”
Should the SOBC be approved by the government, then the project will progress to the next stage, which is the preparation of a more detailed Outline Business Case. It is initially planned that the project would get underway in 2026 – 5 years from now.
The SOBC Executive Summary is available to download at https://iwightinvest.com/regeneration-prospectus/restoring-your-railway/.
Stakeholders will be invited to an online presentation from the project team in July.
Ha ha ha, it will never happen (sadly) Dream on…..
Ryde to Newport via Sandown? Really? £67M would be better spent on abridge/tunnel between E and W Cowes…
Will you be our MP PLEASE!!
No it would be better to spend the money on a tunnel between south and north island
Didnt realise it was April 1st today.
The old railway line has been allowed to revert back to nature providing a natural habitat for wildlife some beautiful trees have grown and provided a lovely walk and cycle track ,surely they cant be seriously thinking of destroying all of this.
About as viable as a chocolate teapot
No spend that astonishing amount of money on a bridge or tunnel.
It would improve Health Care, Mental Health access, Jobs, Schools, Police, Dentists, Doctors.
etc etc.
Yes it would attract people from elsewhere but as many people would go off the Island as visit the Island.
The ferries have had their day…too expensive, unreliable, take too long to cross the water. OUTDATED! in this modern world, like it or not they are just not practical anymore.
No that will make things worse to much traffic now, spend it on the train . public transport is so important as long as it is cheap and reliable that’s the only way to save climate and congestion on the roads ,and get are own council run ferry for islanders so we’re not ripped of by the ferry company s
Maybe both, decent rail network coupled with a rail bridge. But development on the lsland is going to reach the point where the island is simply a housing estate and carpark
Proper cycle networks between towns would be better.
67 million? Can’t we sort out the homeless and hungry first? So so many better things that money could be spent on! What about the elderly who need some help? This entire country is so backwards.
No.l
So how far is Blackwater from Newport? Probably have to get a bus for the rest of the way? Well you may as well have got one in the first place.
I too was wondering how they were going to get the tracks into Newport.
Also wonders where they would put the station.
Be good to have a bridge to get off this island with the ferry’s being as shocking as they are rather than trains to Newport! £67million would be better spent that way as it would one bring tourism back to the island plus we would be able to get of alcatraz! And very few delays for much needs patient transfers from island to mainland and viser versa
For those that disagree.
God forbid you need transfer to and from and you will then learn your lessons lol. You will be the first to moan and gripe about it! Plus it will cut down the interbreeding on the island.
This will ever happen so why spend time you’ll never get back even talking about it
What about the much needed bridge from Kingston to Somerton at Cowes
Would be nice and enhance the island. But I can’t see it happening, the NIMBY lot will be blocking it because they hate any kind of change. They are the sort that complain because a neighbour painted their front door the ‘wrong colour’. Seriously, they have done that!
Pah, tar mac it, make it another road for all the thousands of extra cars from the thousands of extra homes being built
A queastion springs to mind is when line was closed & track removed the area where it was now has replaced buildings & roads etc.
It will be difficult but not impossible to re-route without big diversions of track.
I hope it will go ahead but i believe the points above would make this a massive task.
We need a bridge to mainland not a bloody train for tourist
Ahhhh so that’s why we had such a crazy rise in council tax ?
And all the other pie in the sky money losing stupid projects the seem to thrive on.
If they did their jobs properly & make some money on realistic investments then we would have reductions not excessive rises, a complete shower of ****’s.
Train to Ventnor would be excellent but as there are no trains running now can’t see it happening for years
0Absolute nonsense! Who would use it? Spend the money on expanding the CYCLE track network around the Island; e.g. to the West Wight, which would keep cyclists safe and off the roads. The Island is promoted as a cyclist’s paradise but our narrow, winding roads are far too dangerous for them to ride safely.
I agree with Mermaid’s comment that a connection to Ventnor would be far more sensible and excellent for the town’s tourism and at least they have shops, whereas a connection to Newport where there are no shops anymore, would be a total waste of money, despite the weak suggestions in the proposal that this transport link would magically rejuvenate the capital. Any passengers would have a long walk from Blackwater anyway, just to visit empty shops. Ive just checked the calendar to make sure it’s not April 1st, then realised that our so-far phantom MP is supporting the expensive and mad-cap scheme, which sais it all. He won’t help us properly !
With a bit of planning this could go as far as the car park at the top of Medina Avenue, behind the Driving Test Centre. Then no-one could complain about the distance to walk to the shops from Blackwater (not that its that far anyway).
Strange, though, isn’t it, how as soon as we get some positive news about possible investment and ideas about how to improve the Island all the moaners come out with their negativity? Is this an Island trait or is it nationwide that we want to complain about everything and run it down?
Catherine, I and many people like me, can be very positive and optimistic when we hear of anything that will help this fantastic Island of our’s, but common sense and reality have to kick-in I’m afraid when confronted with this sort of singular scheme. The money could be betting spent spread around all the more needy areas and organisations, as well as spending a lot of the colossal £110 million on Newport’s town centre directly, so that it doesn’t become the rapidlg approaching ghost town that it is at present. This would lead on to more jobs as well. If this scheme doesn’t proceed (which it won’t) the cost of the feasibility study will be more money wasted…. yet again.
But we already have a very nice rail service that runs from Ashey half way to Newport via Havenstreet and Wootton. Wouldn’t the money be better spent just extending that?
you cannot easily run modern stock on a preserved line without updating the signalling equipment. Slam-door carriages as run by the steam railway are banned for modern transport.. You either have a steam railway or a modern one you cannot run both at a level of service profitable to both.
So, SWR lost £137 million in 2019, a large chunk of which was on Island Line. Does it still make sense to extend it?
They could easily save £33.5 Million by giving £33.5 Million to me and keeping the rest.
When we retired here 15 or so years ago the big talk was extending the trains back over the island. This is good we thought, but until someone signs the cheque or puts the money into the account, we won’t hold our breath, and doubt we’ll ever see it come to fruition!!
Sounds lik a Vindaloo whisper