About Us

This is an independent Project entirely managed by
CKP Railways plc,
based in Cumbria and
using local professional skills wherever possible.

Why independent ?

-Because the Government has said it will not even start to consider railway reopenings before 2014.

- Because Network Rail is only involved in maintaining and developing the
existing National Network.
It's brief does not extend to reopenings.

- Because the Local Authorities in Cumbria have various roles to play in
managing and supporting transport,
but they do not have the resources to tackle reopening projects.

This re-opening was suggested to them as a joint project as long ago as 1996, but they chose not to take up the challenge.

Some do, however, provide varying degrees of support and encouragement, but not funding.

- Because lots of people have talked about the need for the Railway to
"return to Keswick",
but nobody else has seriously tackled the issue.

- Because we, CKP Railways plc and our Project Team, have the skills and experience
from Railway design and development projects in the UK and overseas,
we are local, we understand the issues, and
we want to put back this "missing link" for everyone's benefit.

Somebody had to do it - nobody else volunteered !

CKP Railways plc -
             management and funding
Iceni Enterprises Ltd -
             research, publicity and sales
Corus Rail Infrastructure Services -
             Design, Environmental and contractor coordination

Brown and Root, Russell Bowler Environmental, and EEA (Newcastle) have also participated.

Through this structure we have also employed many relevant specialists and liaised with local authorities and statutory agencies in Cumbria and the North of England.

We are also liaising with the Department for Transport in London to ensure that we approach the process to gain the necessary legal powers correctly and thoroughly.

We only pay for satisfactory work completed - nobody earns a salary from us simply for existing.

No fat cats and no waste !

All funding received by CKP Railways plc goes into developing the Railway.

Cedric Martindale
Director

To reinstate the Railway between Keswick and Penrith as a modern Rail link,
connected into the National Network, and providing an

all-day every-day service of
modern passenger trains
across the north of Britain.

We have designed, and aim to build, the line, manage it ourselves, and have Train Operators from the National Network extend their services to Keswick.

This gives the maximum possible benefits at minimum cost.
We do not need to buy trains, or build maintenance depots, or employ train crews.
We simply build the track, stations and signalling; others run the Trains.

Simple !

So simple, in fact that this is how the original
Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR)
was organised from 1864 to 1923 !

In the 1990s somebody reinvented the idea for Britain's privatised railways, but made it rather more complicated when they created Railtrack.

We are going back to basics and building
just what is needed and
controlling it locally.
We will know our costs and control them, not starting with massive corporate overheads which are
unnecessary for a simple operation
such as this.