The Future
The future of the railways is secure until 2017, when the existing National Rail South Western franchise runs out. There are numerous plans for the island's rail system, including:
- the extension of steam services from Smallbrook Junction to Ryde St John's Road station
- conversion of the Island Line to a tramway and extending into Shanklin town centre
- extension of steam railway to reach Newport
- extension of Island Line into Ventnor along the old route (first considered in 1967)
- extension of the Island Line to Gosport, Hampshire via a new Solent tunnel
Read more about this topic: Railways On The Isle Of Wight
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“The circuited city of the future will not be the huge hunk of concentrated real estate created by the railway. It will take on a totally new meaning under conditions of very rapid movement. It will be an information megalopolis.”
—Marshall McLuhan (19111980)
“The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values.... Because myth anchors the present in the past it is a sociological charter for a future society which is an exact replica of the present one.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)