A clear plan for the West of England Line

On improving the West of

England Line, Bruce Duncan raises some good points ( Open Access,

RAIL 896). But we believe there is a bright future for the line and are determined to make progress in the short and longer terms.

In the short term, we fully acknowledge that the current level of performance isn’t good enough. As Mr Duncan rightly points out, this line is particularly susceptible to disruption due to the extensive single-track sections west of Salisbury.

The May and December 2019 timetables have resulted in some significant service enhancements, to meet the promises we made to customers and in response to requests from stakeholders.

These have included additional trains to and from Yeovil Junction and Exeter, but also extra services between Waterloo and Salisbury that reduce pressure on seat capacity on Yeovil and Exeter services. Many services west of Salisbury have been strengthened to six coaches.

However, this does mean that the route is at full capacity west of Salisbury most of the time, and one problem can quickly spread up and down the line with limited options for recovery given the frequencies.

A train between Salisbury and Exeter may have to pass other services in loops or short double-track sections five times with some exceptionally long single-track sections in between.

Mr Duncan refers to the Continuous Modular Strategic Planning (CMSP) process that is under way on the West of England Line. The importance and potential of the line is reflected in the fact that it (along with the Solent area) is the first to be done on the Network Rail Wessex Route.

This recognises both the current challenges and the potential of the very significant employment and housing growth (both planned and emerging) in Local Plans along the route.

The railway can play a major role in supporting economic growth as well as helping to achieve other objectives such as reducing congestion and decarbonisation. We and stakeholders all agree that there is significant scope to improve the service quality for passengers.

The CMSP process is a new one and is still being refined. But it is worth noting that in this case user groups have been involved from the start, helping to shape and challenge the vision for the line and bringing the customer’s perspective to the fore.

While not perfect, the CMSP process is much improved from the old Route Utilisation Strategy, giving a much sharper focus to the line’s specific nature and requirements.

It offers a real opportunity to look at all the infrastructure and rolling stock needs, not just changes to track layouts. This includes access to stations (particularly car park capacity) and critically the rolling stock requirements to run the enhanced service. This in turn will have significant implications for depot and stabling capacity.

There are also some key signalling issues which must be addressed in the Salisbury and Exeter areas. Salisbury is a good example of how all these issues come together in one location.

The West of England CMSP is therefore the ideal vehicle to set out a clear and realistic plan for the next 20 years and beyond, one which stakeholders and local MPs can get behind and lobby not only for the specific enhancement schemes required but also for the associated signalling, rolling stock and depot requirements needed to achieve the overall package.

This will help move the industry and Government away from considering the separate issues in isolation at different times and should result in a cost-effective approach.

The CMSP is due to be published in the spring of this year and it will be essential to quickly follow this through by submitting schemes into the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline.

Let’s work closely together to make the vision for this line a reality and show what can be done as a model for other routes.

Mark Killick, Wessex Route Director, Network Rail Mark Hopwood, Interim Managing Director, South Western Railway