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RAIL CRISIS:
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Public urged
to demand line upgrade Plymouth residents and people across the South West are being urged to write to their MPs to send the message to Westminster that a fast, resilient 21st Century rail network for the peninsula must be a priority. In a ‘Motion to Council’ on February 24, Councillor Tudor Evans asked the Full Council to back calls to the Prime Minister to get on with the study into additional rail routes to serve the South West Peninsula. He wants residents to play their part in getting the rail issue on the agenda. He said: “We want people to write to their MPs and if you have friends in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset get them to write to their MPs as well. “It’s taken a collapse of our network – and not just the track at Dawlish – for Whitehall to acknowledge we have a real issue down here. We appreciate that there are ongoing emergency and flood issues to address, but we cannot afford the issue of our rail resilience to be kicked into the long grass.” The motion, which was seconded by Councillor Ian Bowyer, shadow leader for Plymouth City Council, recognises the inadequacies of the South West peninsula rail network highlighted by the recent extreme weather and notes that not only is the South West ‘connectivity poor’ with longer journey times, but also ‘resilience weak’. The network is not fit for purpose for Plymouth as the 15th largest city in England with an ambitious growth agenda, the motion notes and calls for more commitment from the Government to act on the outcome of the rail study they have already promised and to deliver an additional route (known as the Dawlish Avoiding Line or GW2) to serve Plymouth, Torbay and Cornwall, west of Exeter. “All government agencies should be working cooperatively together to deliver the objectives of faster trains to the south west and a more resilient rail network overall: as opposed to agency-specific solutions that seek to protect some population centres whilst potentially
Council leader Tudor Evans
prejudicing long-term rail resilience into the south west.” The Council resolved to: • Call on the Prime Minister to expedite the study into the delivery of a fast and resilient rail connection to the south west and Plymouth and for this to be completed and published before the end of 2014. • Call on the Prime Minster to instruct the Department of Transport to immediately put Plymouth on the Department for Transport Strategic National Corridor. • Call on all residents across the peninsula to write to their MP to get them to support the provision of fast and reliable trains to the south west and press for them to attend the parliamentary meeting of the Rail Resilience Task Group • Call on the Department for Transport to • continued on next page
March 2014
• DIAL THE EXPERTS
• Legally speaking
• What’s On in the area
• Local history feature
• Community Job Shop
• Cross Rhythms Experience
City may host World Cup rugby teams - SEE P2 Vouchers on page 3