A ‘VERY significant’ step has been taken to reconnect the tracks between Swanage Railway and Wareham train station.

Workmen removed two old track points and signalling equipment at Motala, an area between Furzebrook and Norden, on Wednesday, marking the start of a year-long project to upgrade the newly-acquired track, which will carry the service.

The news comes just a month after Swanage Railway signed a historic 99-year lease with Dorset County Council after the three-mile line, which was formerly owned by Network Rail, had been passed to the county authority.

Peter Sills, chairman of the Swanage Railway, said that the removal of the old boundary is a great achievement and also very significant in the long campaign to return regular passenger trains between Swanage and Wareham.

He said: “It’s a major project involving the replacement of 1,700 wooden sleepers, the clearing of six miles of embankments and drains, as well as the checking and upgrading of six miles of line-side fencing.

“Through the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership, we hope to start running a trial passenger train service to Wareham during the autumn of 2015 – on 50 days during the first year and 90 days during the second.”

The new boundary between Swanage Railway and the national railway system near Worgret Junction is now protected by a new Network Rail signalling system and is marked by notices.

British Rail ran their last Swanage to Wareham train service in 1972. Thirty years later, Swanage Railway’s tracks finally reached the national railway system at Motala, which is just over six miles away from Swanage and 25 years after the first tracks were re-laid at Swanage station.

In the past, special trains from the national railway system heading to Corfe Castle and Swanage and back had to stop at Motala because of the physical track connection.

This was installed as a safety measure to protect the Swanage Railway line and Network Rail line.

For more information, go to Swanagerailway.co.uk