Any possibility of a freight line ever been relaid through Britain's longest disused tunnel will disappear this year when the National Grid begins to install power lines through it.

British Rail's 1954 tunnel through Woodhead last saw trains in 1981 when the route was controversially closed. It has sat idle ever since. Instead of using it as a cable run, environmental and transport campaigners believe that the railway should be reopened to increase the network's limited freight capacity and combat the blight of HGVs clogging up roads through the Peak District National Park.