Michael Bell wrote in message ...
What is the purpose of the Ongar line? Ongar cannot be a very
important traffic objective. Harlow would pull in far more traffic, if
pulling in traffic is the objective!

Michael Bell

In article , Christopher Allen
wrote:
I heard yesterday that some kind of agreement had just been reached
about re-opening the Epping-Ongar line, and that there was some
rolling stock movement (Woodford to Ongar?) in relation to this. Does
anyone know anything further about this? Neither EOR nor ORPS have
anything about this on their websites...

The local paper http://www.ongarguardian.co.uk ran this last week:

Guided busway plan is 'mad' says MP
By David Jackman


THE possibility of a 'guided busway' along part of the old
Epping-Ongar railway line has been branded a "mad" plan by Epping
Forest MP Eleanor Laing.

Various suggestions about what form the busway would take have been
raised with the Guardian, with suggestions including buses running
along a concreted Central Line track or a London Docklands Light
Railway-type service between Epping and North Weald.

But any use of part of the former Epping-Ongar line for such a purpose
has been slammed by Mrs Laing.

The guided busway is included in the Harlow Options Study report
detailing various schemes for growth in and around Harlow. It forms
part of a scheme that would see high density housing (up to 2,300
homes) and an employment site at North Weald served by new public
transport linking the Central Line at Epping to Harlow town centre via
the former North Weald Station.

The report states this "would probably" be achieved with the guided
busway – a scheme that Mrs Laing says would mean the end of any
hope of a full Epping-Ongar line service ever being reinstated.

Mrs Laing said: "I think it's a totally pie in the sky, mad plan."

She added: "The consultants who made this proposal don't know that
we've fought for years to preserve the Epping-Ongar part of the
Central Line so that when the time comes, and it looks now as if it
will quite soon, that part of the Central Line can be reinstated.

"I think it would mean that the Epping-Ongar line would never run
again and that's what we have fought to prevent."

She added: "Many of the proposals that were put to the stakeholders
meeting have not been thought out."

Paul White, of Harlow Options Study consultants Atkins Design
Environment and Engineering, said: "What we're saying is that we
envisage a public transport link of some description which would link
the Central Line in Epping and North Weald to Harlow.

"Our view is that it would be a dedicated busway, but I know that
there are other interested parties that envisaged possibly light rail
or heavy rail. Becasue there is the disused part of the Central Line
we feel it would make sense to use that and have new infrastructure to
Harlow."

He said the issue was a matter for much more detailed study before
final proposals were drawn up.

Commenting on the busway reference in the report, a district council
spokesman said: "The suggestions are conceptual at this stage and do
not say exactly how such a guided busway would operate.

"Transport infrastructure is obviously a major consideration and we
would need to see much more detail in the near future."