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Devon rail improvements could be delayed

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 12:30

By Daniel Clark, Local Democracy Reporting Service

They include enabling a passing loop on the West of England line and electrification

Improvements to Devon’s train services to enable a passing loop on the West of England line and to electrify the railway may be ten years away.

While work has begun on the first phase of the sea wall protection work at Dawlish, last Thursday’s Devon County Council meeting saw council chiefs grilled over the lack of progress with some of the other key rail upgrades.

Concerns were registered over the lack of electrification of railways in the South West beyond Bristol, the stalled progress over the Okehampton line, the delay in the attempt to reopen the line to Tavistock from Bere Alston, as well as the capacity issue due to the single track running in East Devon that restricts the numbers of trains that can run between Exeter and London Waterloo.

The meeting heard that while the County Council is actively working with the rail industry and other parties to secure improvements on the West of England mainline including a new passing loop near Cranbrook, it may not be delivered for another 10 years, and that electrification programme costs have tripled and many parts of the Country are set to miss out, not just the South West.

Cllr Yvonne Atkinson asked: “As it is claimed there has been continuing positive engagement with Government in relation to Railways, why is it that the Government has failed to support electrification of railways in the South West beyond Bristol, and why have they failed to invest in the improvement to the Okehampton line and to link it up with Bere Alston, thereby seriously affecting our ability to reach our true economic potential increase or productivity and address the climate emergency but is prepared to invest vast sums in other regions?

In response, Cllr Andrea Davis, cabinet member for infrastructure, revealed that the electrification programme costs have tripled and many parts of the Country are set to miss out, not just the South West.

She said that she met with the Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris on October 23 to express her concerns that the Peninsula rail network is currently entirely powered by diesel and that having declared a climate emergency, Devon wants to be at the forefront of change.

Cllr Davis added: “Specifically, I made the case for discrete electrification of the South Devon banks (between Plymouth and Newton Abbot) and to explore options for non-fossil fuel solutions for rail services in the future.

“Regarding Okehampton, the Government tasked GWR with investigating how to reintroduce regular weekday services and we await the outcome of this work.

“We continue to support proposals for Tavistock to Bere Alston and considerable work has been undertaken. However, technical challenges have resulted in significant cost escalation, which has resulted in the deliverability and affordability of a heavy rail solution being questioned.

“The importance of a sustainable transport link connecting Tavistock to the national rail services at Bere Alston is recognised and remains an important aspect of enabling growth in Tavistock. Technology is rapidly changing and alternative solutions are in development elsewhere. Incorporating some of these onto the traffic-free historic rail alignment could offer a cost-effective solution which achieves similar outcomes for those living in Tavistock and travelling to Plymouth.”

A recent West Devon Borough Council meeting had heard that the costs of the re-opening of the line had risen to £93m. The station and track was set to be funded by development planned for Tavistock, but Devon County Council’s recent ‘A386 Tavistock to Plymouth Corridor Study’ concluded reinstating the rail link from Tavistock to Bere Alston, is not viable at this time, and as a result officers were not actively lobbying Central Government at this moment to reinstate the Tavistock to Bere Alston rail line.

Instead, their top priorities were to get funding the remainder of the Dawlish to Teignmouth rail line, improving mobile connectivity travelling by rail and creating a diversionary route around the Exeter Waterloo line.

Cllr Davis added: “It is pleasing to see the funding commitment and progress being made on the 1st phase of the mainline between Teignmouth and Dawlish in difficult conditions.”

Cllr John Hart, leader of the council, answering a question as to why the County could not support introducing a direct Barnstaple to London service, said: “The option to extend the existing Waterloo to Exeter rail services along the Tarka line is not currently possible due to significant single line constraints, which would create unacceptable reliability issues for the entire route.

“The County Council is actively working with the rail industry and other parties to secure improvements on the West of England mainline including a new passing loop near Cranbrook, which would enable a much more reliable route. Once these improvements have been delivered, which may not be for 10 years, there is an opportunity to review the situation, and including specifying what rolling stock may be required on the route.

“Parallel to this, the Williams Review is considering a revised structure for the rail industry and the way services are delivered so we will need to see what reforms will follow and how this impacts on our Devon Metro aspirations.”

He said that while he could not support a Barnstaple to London direct train, he said that there needs to be better timetabling so that the Barnstaple to Exeter and Exeter to London trains are better linked.

Cllr Atkinson also questioned when all these improvements were actually going to lead to results for Devon, and why is it that government can fund HS2 but they do not wish to fund these essential works in Devon?

Cllr Davis replied: “I cannot answer as I am not a member of parliament and the North Devon Conservatives decided I wasn’t suitable to represent them, so you’ll have to take it back to them.”

She was on a three person shortlist to be the Conservative candidate for North Devon, but lost out to Selaine Saxby.

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