‘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.

“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.

Northern 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.”

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