The Isle of Wight Steam Railway have confirmed that whilst they would like to extend their service into Newport should the opportunity arise, their focus remains firmly with running steam trains into Ryde St John’s.
On Thursday night hundreds of people gathered at Shanklin Theatre to discuss the future of Island Line services between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin. As part of that discussion stakeholders were invited along to have an input into the ideas being bounced around.
Commenting on the future of Island Line, Peter Vail, General Manager of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway has said:
“As a stakeholder in Island Line, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway will submit to South Western Railway a detailed response to their ongoing consultation process. Our focus will be on essential short term solutions that will see the Island Line service updated, improve and become more sustainable.
“We will be suggesting a number of initiatives where it may be possible to share use of our facilities and resources here on the Island. The Steam Railway have always made it clear that we do not have the resource or desire to take any level of responsibility for Island Line. Our focus must remain on continuing the successful operation of the Steam Railway”.
Peter went on to say:
“We do however see an immediate opportunity to extend our line into Ryde St. John’s Road, alongside Island Line. Many benefits have been identified for the Island Line, Island tourism, the local community and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.
“If the opportunity arose it is in our long term vision that we would also like to see our line extended into Newport. However we are very mindful of the costs, technical and regulatory challenges. For this reason our present focus is firmly on our Ryde St John’s Road ambition.
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