{"id":280412,"date":"2025-09-08T20:17:01","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=182385"},"modified":"2025-09-08T20:17:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:17:01","slug":"agreement-between-south-eastern-railway-and-heritage-line-will-work-towards-re-introduction-of-freight-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=280412","title":{"rendered":"Agreement between South Eastern Railway and heritage line will work towards re-introduction of freight trains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the South Eastern Railway (SER) and the East Kent Railway (EKR), a heritage line, sharing redundant railway assets from the mainline railway, facilities and volunteer time \u2013 and working towards re-establishing freight trains on the EKR for the first time since 1987.<\/p>\n

At a short ceremony at Shepherds Well station on Friday 5 September, the SER confirmed its intention to donate railway materials including rails and sleepers, as well as other items no longer needed for the mainline railway to help the EKR maintain its own infrastructure and develop its services.<\/p>\n

In return, the EKR will provide the SER with the use of its facilities, which are already used from time to time when spaces are needed off the mainline network, such as for training.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, both organisations will also work together to explore opportunities for the re-establishment of commercial freight traffic over the EKR, helping to deliver \u2018modal shift\u2019 in the East Kent area to address Government rail freight growth targets.<\/p>\n

With local support, the agreement will aim to secure third-party funding to reconnect the EKR to the national network for the first time since 1987, using the SER\u2019s own engineering expertise to make it a reality.<\/p>\n

David Davidson, chief operating officer for the SER, said: \u201cWherever we can, we will work with heritage railways across our network to forge a new partnership so that materials that would otherwise be recycled elsewhere to be re-used can find a new purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn turn, the East Kent Railway also has some excellent facilities which, because they are separate from the mainline network, provide the perfect opportunity for our colleagues to contribute to the local community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking together through this memorandum of understanding provides a clear framework and we are excited about the possibilities it brings, not only to the South Eastern and East Kent Railways, but to wider society and the potential to support economic growth in East Kent. And, what better time to do it than in 2025, the bicentenary of the railway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Plews, general manager of the East Kent Railway Trust, said: “The East Kent Railway is delighted to enter into this Memorandum of Understanding with our friends at the South Eastern Railway. There is a great deal of scope for cooperation between the national rail network and heritage railways. This agreement provides a framework for a deeper collaboration which will benefit us both, both in the short term and into the future.”<\/p>\n

The two organisations will also explore marketing opportunities at Southeastern stations and on its website, as well as the potential adoption of Shepherds Well station, which links the mainline with the EKR.<\/p>\n

Image credit: Network Rail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the South Eastern Railway (SER) and the East Kent Railway (EKR), a heritage line, sharing redundant railway assets from the mainline railway, facilities and volunteer time \u2013 and working towards re-establishing freight trains on the EKR for the first time since 1987. At a short ceremony at [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4920,16017,78,47,16016,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heritage","category-industry-news","category-rail-freight","category-rail-news","category-train-operating-companies","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280440,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280412\/revisions\/280440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}