Michael Fabricant has written to the Department for Transport and the
Secretary of State for Defence backing calls to re-open the Lichfield to
Burton line for passenger traffic and to rebuild the railway halt at
Alrewas. "Since the Dedication of the Armed Forces Memorial by the
Queen in October, visitors to the National Memorial Arboretum have
soared" says Michael. "At present visitors have to come by road
putting great strain on the local environment. But with a working
railway line passing close to the Memorial and the existing east-west
railway routes becoming clogged, I now think it is time to re-open the
line to passenger traffic.

"It will enable elderly veterans, unable to drive, to access the Armed
Forces Memorial from all parts of the country by rail via Birmingham and
Lichfield.

"I am already in contact with Des Browne the Secretary of State for
Defence regarding future plans for the Memorial. I believe, in years to
come, veterans and relatives will look to the Armed Forces Memorial as
being the main centre of national remembrance commemorating, as it does,
the fallen since 1945. Personal memories of the two world wars will
inevitably fade in future decades. By 2010, the annual number of
visitors to Alrewas is likely to exceed a quarter of a million."

Michael has joined forces with Roger Hailwood, a volunteer guide at the
National Memorial Arboretum and a local campaigner for the re-opening of
the line to Burton. Roger says: "At the recent Dedication of the Armed
Forces Memorial, I had an experience that highlighted the problem of
access to the Memorial. I escorted three elderly ladies to find the
name of a brother who had been killed in operations against the Mau Mau
in Kenya back in 1955. As they fought to control their emotions on
viewing the only memorial they had ever seen to their brother, they
enquired about ways to make a return visit to the Memorial in the
future, by way of public transport. They were upset to realise that
there is no viable public transport link to the National Memorial
Arboretum from their home in Newcastle Upon Tyne other than organising a
taxi from Lichfield or Burton. There are many others who face the same
problem. A railway halt at Alrewas would be the solution."

Michael Fabricant has also written to Lafarge Aggregates who own the
property upon which the Alrewas platform would be built to determine if
they would be willing to release the land.