Council puts together £50K business case to reopen Haxby Railway Station

Haxby could get a train station again – as council leaders plan to put £50,000 towards researching the plan.

City of York Council’s budget proposals would see the cash spent on creating a business case for opening a station in Haxby.

The report would look at potential sites and whether there is a demand for services.

A council document says the £50K is:

• Funding for a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for Haxby Station, to reassess and evaluate potential sites, service patterns, demand and revenue forecasting, and other high-level infrastructure requirements.
  

Haxby’s station closed in 1930.

Is it feasible?

There have been numerous attempts to reopen a station in the town.

In 2013 the council bid for funding from Network Rail for a scheme to build a new station in the town – with the aim of reducing traffic on the A1237 outer ring road and the A64.

At the time, the council said there were more than 22,000 people living within three miles of the the proposed station who would benefit from faster links to York, Leeds and Manchester.

York Outer MP Julian Sturdy has also pushed for better rail links to Haxby.

During the 2019 General Election campaign council leader Keith Aspden – the Liberal Democrat candidate for York Outer – said opening a station in the town would have been a priority for the party.

Feasibility work could now be undertaken on the proposals.