CAMPAIGNERS are calling for expansion of the rail network through the reopening of lines axed more than 50 years ago.

The £5 billion scheme proposed by the Campaign for Better Transport (CfTR) has been welcomed by rail union RMT.

The scheme would create 72 new stations, up to 20 million additional passenger journeys,1,650 jobs on the railway network and 6,500 jobs in construction and engineering.

An estimated 500,000 people would be brought within walking distance of a station, which would bring rail links to at least 100 disadvantaged areas.

One-third of the rail network – equivalent to 5,000 miles of track, more than 2,000 stations and tens of thousands of jobs – was axed following the infamous Beeching report published in 1963.

CfTR wants some of the abandoned routes reopened.

The estimated cost of the project is a tenth of the £55.7 billion budget set for HS2, campaigners said.

CfTR’s chief executive Darren Shirley said: “Expanding the railways would transform the opportunities for people living in some of the most deprived areas of the country, giving them greater access to employment and services and providing a much-needed boost to local economies.”

The scheme would reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, and create better and healthier places to live, he said.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said the scheme would ultimately pay for itself through the benefits it would generate.

“For years politicians have been talking up the benefits of reopening lines but few reach construction due to a lack of a national approach and public investment,” he added.