Campaigners’ dismay after rail schemes are axed

Transport campaigners have expressed their dismay after Chancellor Rachel Reeves told MPs that the �500 million Restoring Your Railway fund had been cancelled, as part of a wide range of national economies to deal with an ‘overspend’ in the national budget of �22 billion. The decision puts projects to reopen lines and stations at risk in many parts of England, from the south west to the north east. Ms Reeves told the House of Commons that the railway fund is one of many budgets which had not been costed by the previous government, and that she was seeking savings in transport spending which will also involve the cancellation of road schemes, including a controversial tunnel near Stonehenge.