THE OBJECTIVES

The HoldFast Rubber Highway has been designed to:

1
Turn decommissioned rail lines into active transport infrastructure.

2
Create affordability for light rail, bus way and metro schemes.

3
Provide a means of releasing loss making branch rail lines to local authority management. They can then become profitable and effective mixed transport community lines.

A TRANSPORT ENABLER

The HoldFast Rubber Highway is a flexible transport enabler, empowering planners to:

1
Increase people flow on ‘dead’ or underused rail routes.

2
Reduce congestion

3
Provide transport mode flexibility

4
Enable the replacement of high subsidy ‘diesel guzzler’ locos with low cost locally managed (driverless?) electric / gas trams – for more frequent services and a lower cost base.

5
Provide long term public transport affordability.

THE DILEMMAS

Redundant branch lines There are hundreds of disused lines across the UK.

How can we incorporate these into local / national transport infrastructure? Do we turn them into road, rail, tram, metro networks or busways?

HRH provides a solution

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“The development of a strategy for local and rural railways has shone a light on a neglected part of the network that has had little attention over the last 15 years. What has been revealed is a group of lines and services that are important to the communities they serve, and with considerable potential for development. "[But] Many of these 'sleeping beauty' lines have yet to be awakened and too many empty seats are running up and down Britain's branch lines safely and reliably...but expensively. Even if they were filled, the lines would still require unaffordable levels of subsidy." David Quarmby Chairman The Strategic Rail Authority (Foreword, Community Rail Development Strategy 2004)

Network Rail Local and Rural Branch lines. There are hundreds of these subsidised lines carrying largely empty and irregular train traffic.

How can we incorporate these lines into effective local transport schemes AND return them to profitability?

HRH provides a solution.

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How To Make Local Transport Rail and Dedicated Bus Schemes Happen. There are many schemes local authorities are desperate to realise.

How can we lower the cost base of these schemes?

HRH provides a solution.

As the UK becomes more crowded, the congestion on our roads increases [above and below].

The HoldFast Rubber Highway can make use of these unused railway lines to ease the congestion on the roads, at a fraction of the cost of new roads [test track, above].