DON VALLEY RAILWAY TO LAUNCH PETITION AT STOCKSBRIDGE MEETING AS TRANSPORT EXPERTS OFFER FREE SUPPORT.
Don Valley Railway are to launch a petition calling for passenger rail services to be re-introduced on the Don Valley Line between Stocksbridge and Sheffield at their first Stocksbridge based drop-in meeting at Stocksbridge Rugby Club starting at 8pm on September the 26th 2012. Interested locals are invited along, as well as attendees from the Stocksbridge Community Forum meeting earlier that evening.
The purpose of the meeting is to allow more people to get involved and find out more about the progress of the project. Following this inaugural event, meetings will be held on a regular monthly basis.
The new petition is to be launched at a time when interest in the potential service is growing. With plans for the new retail centre and housing in the Upper Don Valley, pressures on the local transport network, and the increased demand add weight to utilising the rail line to meet the needs for transport in the area. The petition can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/8dp5dbq – a paper petition will also be put on display in public places locally.
This will be the second petition for Don Valley Railway. In 2006 a petition received over 1300 signatories.
As well as the petition, attendees can find out more about the development of the business plan, which has been developed with help from a top international planning and engineering consultancy. Mott MacDonald, with offices in Sheffield and around the world, has offered free services through its top rail consultants to Don Valley Railway to deliver its business plan towards the project of bringing a passenger rail service to the Upper Don Valley. This has helped to form a top quality proposal that will meet the requirements of the local authorities, government and rail authorities.
Don Valley Railway have also had a further meeting with South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) at which they stated that they support in principle the further development of the Don Valley Railway and will continue to work with the group to facilitate this development
The next step is to get funding seriously under way and produce a Project Prospectus and initial Project Management Plan to enable Don Valley Railway to develop a viable project with Network Rail. SYPTE will feed their comments into this document by October in order that proposals can be developed with Network Rail.
Regular Don Valley Railway drop-in meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at 1900 at The Harlequin, Nursery Street, Sheffield.