Railways are back in the news – and not before time.

The so-called “Brexit election” focused so heavily on the plans for the UK to leave the EU that many other important national issues were crowded out of the debate.

Now that the election is over, transport is being discussed once again.

I was one of those passengers who suffered delays and cancellations when Govia Thameslink Railway introduced new timetables in May 2018. GTR told us beforehand it was a “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restructure the timetable to give passengers more trains and the much better reliability we all want”.

It turned out to be chaotic although it later settled down.

 The authorities promised to learn the lessons of the botched timetable changes from May last year. It seems from the current chaos in the north of England that the lessons haven’t been learned.

The Commons transport select committee, in its report into last year’s chaos, highlighted “the astonishing complexity of a disaggregated railway in which the interrelated private train companies operating on publicly-owned and managed infrastructure have competing commercial interests”. MPs spoke of “a fragmented, over-complicated system, with competing contractual interests”.

That’s still the case and the current system makes it difficult, if not impossible, at times to know where the responsibility – and blame – lies.

Which brings me to the promise in the Conservative party’s manifesto of “a transport revolution”. Now, to me, the word “revolution” is something I’d normally associate with a Labour manifesto but hey ho, these are strange times.

What intrigued me was the pledge from the Conservatives – and I quote – that “we will restore many of the Beeching lines”.

No timescale was given and no explanation was forthcoming of the cost or practicality of re-opening the lines which were closed after Dr Beeching’s report “Reshaping Britain’s Railways”.

The 1963 report identified 2,363 stations and 5,000 miles of railway line for closure. To restore “many” of the lines is a tall order.

The Campaign for Better Transport has an excellent guide to re-opening rail lines and has already identified – and prioritised – schemes in every region.

Some are easier to do than others because the tracks have not been built over nor the land sold to different developers or householders.

There’s growing interest in these closed lines. Rob Bell’s excellent Channel 5 series on ‘Walking Britain’s Lost Railways’ highlighted how difficult it is to trace the route of some of the closed lines. Writer Julian Holland’s book ‘Lost Railway Walks’ also shows how it is impossible to follow the entire route of many original lines.

Dr Beeching’s legacy is being constantly re-assessed and the fact that the line closures are being discussed nearly 60 years later shows the impact the cuts had on communities. Some still hanker after their rail line connecting places and people.

Although Dr Beeching is often painted as a villain, one benefit of the line closures was the development of the heritage railway industry.

Enthusiasts across the country took heart from ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’ and grouped together to re-open lines and operate train services again. The film was released a full 10 years before the Beeching report but it gave people a basis on which to develop community action and successful campaigning.

Without Dr Beeching, there wouldn’t be many of the heritage railways which contribute so much to the tourist industry and provide employment and training as well as volunteer opportunities for thousands of people.

I am one of those volunteers, giving my time at the Bluebell Railway which has particular associations with Dr Beeching.

The line runs for 11 miles from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead and Dr Beeching was a well-known resident of East Grinstead.

Although he is most associated with closing stations, Dr Beeching actually opened a station. Well, a halt actually on the Bluebell Railway.

The Lewes to East Grinstead line closed in the late-1950s as freight traffic moved to the roads and passenger use declined. The Bluebell Railway began in 1960 as the first former British Rail branch line to reopen in the preservation era operating timetabled steam-hauled passenger trains.

Holywell Halt on the Bluebell Railway was opened by Dr Beeching on 1 April 1962 and was linked to the Haywards Heath to East Grinstead bus route. But few passengers made use of the bus service and motorists caused congestion by parking on the road. As a result, the halt was closed soon afterwards.

I have given various radio interviews recently about the work of heritage railways and I explain that their aim is to preserve the best of a bygone era for the benefit of future generations.

It would be lovely to think that all these former branch lines will experience regular train services once again but the reality is that some aspects of the past will be history and not part of the future.

The events of this week have prompted me to think there should be a campaign slogan of “Get Beeching Undone”.