Request for ratification of decision to close Folkestone Harbour branch line and station – 29 May 2014
| Date | 29 May 2014 |
| Section | Closures |
-
Department
for
Transport IRail Executive
Stuart Freer
Executive, Stations & Depots and Network Code
Office
of
Rail Regulation
1 Kemble Street
London
WC2B4AN
By
e-mail only
Dear Stuart,
Simon Feast
Rail Executive
Department for Transport
Zone 3/15, Great Minster House
33
Horseferry Road
London SW1 P 4DR
Direct Line: 020 7944 4557
E-mail: simon.feast@dft.gsi.gov.uk
Web Site:
www
.dft.gov.uk
Our
Ref
: RFTB/020/001/023/jfk
29
May 2014
RATIFICATION REQUEST FOR CLOSURE OF THE FOLKESTONE
HARBOUR BRANCH AND FOLKESTONE HARBOUR STATION
Following the recent consultation in respect
of
the proposal
to
discontinue the use
of
the
following rail facilities:
• Folkestone Harbour branch line (a one mile branch line between Fo
lk
estone East
Junction and Folkestone Harbour) and
• Folkestone Harbour station (the station
at
the terminus
of
the branch line that
previously served the harbour)
and the publication
of
the summary
of
responses and the Department's comments,
Baroness Kramer, Minister
of
State for Transport, has agreed that the Office
of
Rail
Regulation ('ORR') be requested formally to ratify the closure.
I am advising you under section 32(4)
of
the Railways
Ac
t 2005 ('the Act') that the
proposal is a modified proposal. Following a query raised after the consultation closed,
the Department considers that the description
of
the network for closure should
be
clarified to exclude
the
part
of
the network on Folkestone Harbour pier beyond the extent
of
Network Rail's lease area (as shown coloured green on the plan
at
Annex A). The
closure provisions
of
the Act apply, inter alia, where "the network or, as the case may
be
,
that part
of
it has,
at
any time within the preceding five years, been used for
or
in
connection with the provision
of
services for the carriage
of
passengers
by
railway" (see
section 26(1 )(b)). Network Rail confirmed that the network beyond their lease area would
not have been used in this way. Therefore, the description
of
the network is modified to
read as follows:
14
0529
covering letter to
ORR
"Folkestone Harbour branch line (a
one
mile branch line between Folkestone East
Junction and Folkestone Harbour), up
to
the boundary
of
Network Rail's lease
area,
as
shown coloured green on the plan at Annex A."
Paragraph
24
of
ORR's Procedures for Reviewing Closure References suggests that the
summary
of
responses be published for four weeks prior
to
reference.
The
summary
was
published on 1 May 2014.
Documents making
up
the closure submission are:
1.
Closure consultation document
2. Closure Notice
3. Copy
of
Statutory Notice published in newspapers:
• Daily Mail,
28
November and 5 December 2013
• Daily Telegraph, 28 November and 5 December 2013
• Folkestone Herald,
21
& 28 November and 5 December 2013
4. Copy
of
other consultation letters
of
20 November 2013 from Network Rail
to
named stakeholders
5. List and copies
of
responses received
6.
Summary
of
responses with OfT comments.
Electronic copies
of
these documents are attached
to
this e-mail.
If you require
any
further information, please
do
not hesitate
to
contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Feast
Fares & Passenger Benefits Manager
140529 coveri
ng
letter to ORR
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