{"id":3959,"date":"2023-10-31T01:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T01:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/?p=2903"},"modified":"2023-10-31T01:00:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T01:00:15","slug":"the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/","title":{"rendered":"The ghost services running all year round"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

While railways commonly serve as eerie backdrops for ghostly tales, here’s a story that might be unfamiliar to you. Did you know the UK rail network plays host to almost 40 ghost trains and their spooky journeys extend far beyond the Halloween season?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Rickmansworth to Watford, Stalybridge to Stockport, the list goes on because the United Kingdom is full of ghost trains, also known as parliamentary trains. These unique trains date back to the 1960s and are services that run over a line \u2013 or stop at a station \u2013 so infrequently that they often go unnoticed but in doing so, they avoid the cost of a formal closure. \u00a0It even extends beyond trains; the service may even be facilitated by a ‘ghost bus.’ Since 2022, the Chiltern\u2019s Wednesday ghost train from West Ealing to West Ruislip has been replaced by a bus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Ghost services do serve a key purpose, though: keeping them running ensures the railway line remains open, making it easier to bring it back into use again in the future if circumstances change and for train services, it can also enable drivers to maintain route knowledge in the event of diversions or route closures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Stephen Barker, Associate Director at SLC Rail said: \u201cTo close a line, you need to follow a statutory process, which concludes with the Secretary of State making a formal decision to close it. It\u2019s often cheaper and easier to run the minimum number of services to keep a line open \u2013 which can be just once a week in one direction!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cLegislation introduced in the 1980s allowed new train services and stations to be designated \u201cexperimental\u201d, which allowed new services to be tested and, if unsuccessful, withdrawn without going through the normal closure process – and without the risk of creating new ghost trains.\u00a0\u00a0It was this bit of legislation that made it possible to reopen, amongst others, the Bicester to Oxford line in 1987.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What may seem like a ‘ghost train’ to one person can be a future opportunity for another.\u00a0 The Halton Curve is a prime example, having been brought back into use after more than four decades without regular passenger services. This now links north Wales, Cheshire and Liverpool, benefiting the regions and reducing congestion on our roads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Andrew Helm, Head of Economic Appraisal at SLC Rail said:\u00a0 “A good number of the ghost services operate over chords or short links between main lines and as such provide valuable routing flexibility for potential future freight services or as diversionary routes during engineering possessions. It\u2019s a pity that more of these line sections weren\u2019t retained during the Beeching cuts as their capacity for providing freight routes and diversionary routes would be of great value on today\u2019s overcrowded railway.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Exploring opportunities that already exist will always be cheaper than starting from scratch.\u00a0SLC is working on the Northumberland Line project to bring back a lost line that is currently only used for freight between Ashington and Newcastle.\u00a0SLC has experts who understand the complex world of rail and the potential of new and forgotten lines to support strategic aspirations. \u00a0To get in touch, visit\u00a0www.slcrail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While railways commonly serve as eerie backdrops for ghostly tales, here’s a story that might be unfamiliar to you. Did you know the UK rail network plays host to almost 40 ghost trains and their spooky journeys extend far beyond the Halloween season? Rickmansworth to Watford, Stalybridge to Stockport, the list goes on because the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe ghost services running all year round - SLC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ghost services running all year round - SLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While railways commonly serve as eerie backdrops for ghostly tales, here’s a story that might be unfamiliar to you. Did you know the UK rail network plays host to almost 40 ghost trains and their spooky journeys extend far beyond the Halloween season? Rickmansworth to Watford, Stalybridge to Stockport, the list goes on because the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-31T01:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emma Gascoigne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emma Gascoigne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emma Gascoigne\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c2ee3ed2e79792798c1c3ef01a022e6c\"},\"headline\":\"The ghost services running all year round\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-31T01:00:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\",\"name\":\"The ghost services running all year round - SLC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-31T01:00:15+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1500,\"caption\":\"A pumpkin\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/\",\"name\":\"SLC\",\"description\":\"Making infrastructure projects happen\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SLC\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/SLC-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/SLC-logo.png\",\"width\":1950,\"height\":850,\"caption\":\"SLC \"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c2ee3ed2e79792798c1c3ef01a022e6c\",\"name\":\"Emma Gascoigne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93b5a914975e64d8d2d3d2260e65ee5fba96487b57c4e754365a0076b1aeb805?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93b5a914975e64d8d2d3d2260e65ee5fba96487b57c4e754365a0076b1aeb805?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emma Gascoigne\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/author\/emma-gascoigne\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The ghost services running all year round - SLC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The ghost services running all year round - SLC","og_description":"While railways commonly serve as eerie backdrops for ghostly tales, here’s a story that might be unfamiliar to you. Did you know the UK rail network plays host to almost 40 ghost trains and their spooky journeys extend far beyond the Halloween season? Rickmansworth to Watford, Stalybridge to Stockport, the list goes on because the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/","og_site_name":"SLC","article_published_time":"2023-10-31T01:00:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1500,"url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emma Gascoigne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emma Gascoigne","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/"},"author":{"name":"Emma Gascoigne","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c2ee3ed2e79792798c1c3ef01a022e6c"},"headline":"The ghost services running all year round","datePublished":"2023-10-31T01:00:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/"},"wordCount":532,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg","inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/","url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/","name":"The ghost services running all year round - SLC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-31T01:00:15+00:00","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/the-ghost-services-running-all-year-round\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SLC-Halloween-post.jpg","width":1500,"height":1500,"caption":"A pumpkin"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/","name":"SLC","description":"Making infrastructure projects happen","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#organization","name":"SLC","url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/SLC-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/SLC-logo.png","width":1950,"height":850,"caption":"SLC "},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c2ee3ed2e79792798c1c3ef01a022e6c","name":"Emma Gascoigne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93b5a914975e64d8d2d3d2260e65ee5fba96487b57c4e754365a0076b1aeb805?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93b5a914975e64d8d2d3d2260e65ee5fba96487b57c4e754365a0076b1aeb805?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emma Gascoigne"},"url":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/author\/emma-gascoigne\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slcrail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}