‘Ghost line’ spending comes under criticism
Freedom of Information (FOI) figures obtained by the Yorkshire Post show Northern Rail has recently spent nearly £12,500 on new cycle facilities at the stations of Snaith, near Goole, despite estimates showing as few as eight journeys were made from it in a day, and Rawcliffe, where as few as 252 journeys were made in a year.
Scarborough councillor Nick Harvey, who made the FOI request, says both stations are part of a service classed as ghost line by public transport campaigners, with one train to Goole a day, two trains to Leeds, and no Sunday service.
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Hide Ad“They need to think about where this is going because this is a complete waste of money,” he said.
“They also need to look at how much these facilities are costing, to spend more than £10,000 at Snaith is enough to make your eyes water.
“They need to invest in train services at a place where there is only one train a day rather than just cycle racks.”
The funding came from a £1m Cycling England grant that was awarded to Northern Rail at the end of 2009 to install and upgrade facilities at 90 stations that feed into Leeds.
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Hide AdNorthern Rail claims figures from the Office of Rail Regulation that 2,574 journeys were made from Snaith in 2009/2010 – the most recent available figures – and 252 in Rawcliffe, are based on estimates while it uses an automatic passenger count.
A spokeswoman said: “Our figures show that last year close to 1,000 journeys were made through Rawcliffe and 7,500 were made through Snaith.”