After years of delays, rail station will finally arrive

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced on Monday that the Department for Transport will put £5 million towards the £11.3 million station project, with Warwickshire County Council providing the rest of the funds.

Work will start in May 2015 and the station - to be managed by operator London Midland - will be served by a new train service between Leamington and Coventry.

The news comes after years of campaigning from townspeople, councillors and Kenilworth MP Jeremy Wright.

Speaking at Jubilee House on Monday, Mr McLoughlin said: “What I’m pleased with today is that I have seen the determination of local councillors in wanting this project and the way they’ve campaigned long and hard for it and it shows how a hard-fought campaign over a long period can come to fruition.

“I’m very pleased for Kenilworth to be able to come and make the announcement today and for Jeremy, considering all the pressure he has put under me try to get it done.”

The New Station in Priory Road will include a ticket office, a 90-space car park and bicycle parking.

It will allow rail connections with London and the wider West Midlands and will include two 100-metre platforms capable of being used by four-car trains, with provision for these to be lengthened in the future.

The station is expected to attract 446 return passenger journeys per day, of which 53 per cent would be ‘new to rail’.

Network Rail is carrying out work to integrate the plans for the station with other rail works, including electrification and schemes to increase capacity, planned for the line between 2014 and 2019.

Mr Wright said: “It’s really good news for Kenilworth and it’ll not only give people the opportunity to get around more easily but it will also bring more visitors to the town and that’ll be good for its economy.”

With Kenilworth’s railway line being closed to passengers since 1965 and the years of campaigning which followed to have a station restored, Mr Wright said he could understand if there was some doubt about the project ever being completed.

Mr Wright said: “We’ve been campaigning for this for decades so 2016 in that context does not seem that far away to me.

“People will see bulldozers moving in before that, they’ll see some progress.

“People in Kenilworth will undoubtedly say ‘we’ve heard all this before’ so we need to be clear by movement of earth that this is actually happening.

County council chairman and Kenilworth councillor Dave Shilton could not contain his joy, describing the announcement as being like “a dream come true”.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted, going back to 1995 it was the first thing I ever spoke about in the council chamber.

“I said ‘let’s get Kenilworth railway station back up and running’ but I was told ‘you’ll never do that’.

“Today’s is the best news of all - we’ve got it, it’s going to happen and I hope I can get the chance to ride on the first train.

“It’s been a long hard battle and finally we’ve won.”

The target date for the station to open will be confirmed later in the year.