£1.2billion proposal for South West upgrades
HS2 critics Lord Berkeley and Michael Byng have compiled a new report outlining a package of schemes to improve and reopen railways in the south-west of England.
It has been costed at £1.2billion using Network Rail’s new industry standard project analysis tools.
The recommendations include redoubling the entire Salisbury to Exeter route; reopening the Exeter-Okehampton-TavistockPlymouth route to provide a second, weather-resilient route to the Far West; upgrading the Lostwithiel to Fowey freight branch to carry passengers; and reopening the Bodmin ParkwayWadebridge-Padstow line.
Other suggestions include upgrading the Exeter to Barnstaple (£17.25million) and Truro to Falmouth lines, and the creation of a new Newquay to St Austell line using existing lines and reinstated china clay branches.
Upgrading the Salisbury to Exeter line is estimated at £382m across three phases: reopening the former LSWR main line via Okehampton to Plymouth would involve upgrading and redoubling the Exeter to Okehampton (£154.4m) and Plymouth to Bere Alston lines; extending the latter back to Tavistock (£123.6m); before reinstating the Tavistock to Meldon Quarry section (£148.5m). Total cost is estimated at £426.5m.
Camel Trail
Rebuilding and reopening of Bodmin to Padstow is estimated at just £32m. Much of the latter still exists as the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway and Camel Trail cycle path, although no detail is given about how the railway could be reinstated through the centre of Wadebridge, where roads, houses and shopping areas occupy the track bed and former station/yard area.
Reopening costs for the line to Fowey are estimated at just £5.25m, despite the requirement to upgrade the highly scenic freight line to passenger standards, reinstate the line beyond its current limit at Imerys’ Carne Point china clay port, and provide a new station on a constricted site in Fowey.
The £181.5m Cross-Cornwall Rail Link would include improvements to the current Newquay to St Dennis line, reinstatement between
St Dennis and Parkandillack, and an upgrade of the Parkandillack to Burngullow china clay branch for passenger use.
Finally, the authors also recommend an £11.8m scheme to improve infrastructure and provide community rail services on the West Somerset Railway between Taunton and Minehead.
‘Rebalancing’
Lord Berkeley said: “The Government’s commitment to rebalancing the economy from the South East to the Midlands and North, most recently by the reported creation of a Northern Transport Acceleration Council (see separate story), must also be applied to the South West. “A contribution of less than 1% of the cost of HS2 would bring massive benefits to this region, which sometimes feels much forgotten.”