Stockport to Ashton rail link moves closer to restoration

A proposed restoration of regular rail services between Stockport and Ashton-under-Lyne has moved closer to restoration following a successful bid to the government’s Restoring Your Railways scheme.

As revealed in last week’s Autumn Budget, £50,000 has been provided to develop further early stage proposals for the Stockport to Ashton rail link. The funding bid, which was originally knocked back for funding in March 2020, was led by TfGM and Stockport Council and had the backing of Tameside Council as well as local MPs, Navendu Mishra, Andrew Gwynne and Angela Rayner.

Following the award of funding, feasibility studies will now explore two options for the future of the route: either a heavy rail service through to Manchester Victoria, or a light-rail service that would extend Metrolink services from Ashton and link with the extension planned from East Didsbury into Stockport. Both proposals would serve existing stations on the route at Reddish South and Denton; new stations at Audenshaw, Thornley Lane and Heaton Norris will also be considered. Currently only a weekly Parliamentary service, to avoid the costs of formally closing the route, has operated since 1992.

The restoration of the Stockport to Ashton rail link was one of 13 proposals to secure funding for further feasibility studies in the final funding round of the Restoring Your Railways programme. The government scheme was established to reinstate closed local rail services that were lost in the 1963 Beeching Report, which led to the closure of over 5,000 miles of railway.

One of the first schemes to secure funding through the programme, between Exeter and Okehampton in Devon, is set to reopen to regular passenger services before the end of the year.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

“Our efforts to undo the damage of the Beeching closures are gathering pace, with work on new stations and lines that can level up communities right across the UK.

“I share the enthusiasm and ambition of local campaigners across the country pushing for their local lines to be reopened and this additional funding will help progress many more schemes.”