FEATURE
Photo by the late Ivor Hocking 34066 Spitfire 1115 London WaterlooPadstow/Bude, 2nd part of the Atlantic Coast Express 29 Aug 1964 (the line closed in 1968)
‘Green Main Line’ for whole South West In December 2020, new proposals were announced to rebuild the railway through Dartmoor. One of its creators, Andrew Roden, says the benefits for Devon and the wider South West will be transformative. On January 20, Prime Minister Boris Johnson – prompted by Devon MP Sir Gary Streeter – said that the government’s vaunted ‘levelling up’ agenda also applies to the South West as well as the Midlands and Northern England. Confirmation could not have come soon enough: in large parts of Devon and Cornwall, incomes are low, job opportunities few, access to work and education difficult and local economies dependent on seasonal and part-time jobs. Young people are particularly affected – often unable to afford to buy and run a car, public transport in much of the region is poor, and many journeys for work or education are lengthy if not actually impossible. Better transport is vital, and particularly for an area ranging from Bideford in North Devon down to Launceston, Bude, Wadebridge and Padstow in North Cornwall, and encompassing Okehampton and Tavistock. This is why reinstating the railway from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton and Tavistock could be truly transformative for those without cars, for the environment, for tourism, and for freight trains, taking lorries off the roads. It is a topic that has been discussed many times over the years, so far without success, so why is the Tavistock Okehampton Reopening Scheme (TORS) different? Very simply, because it has asked different questions to previous work. Studies have tended to ask whether the route could be justified as a diversion for trains when the coastal main line is closed by bad weather or maintenance – or whether the revenue from a purely local service would justify the costs. The answers to both were, unsurprisingly, negative. Reopening the railway to Okehampton and from Plymouth to Tavistock is also very important, but a through route will amplify the benefits with comparable 6
operating costs. Why can we say that with confidence? Because this time around, a team of experts with experience in consulting and rail operations started with a different question: can the railway be operated in an efficient way likely to generate good revenue? The second question that follows is: how can we maximise the wider benefits? By extending the existing London Waterloo to Exeter service ‘around the top’ to Plymouth, we are confident the answer to the first question is a clear ‘yes’, as journey times will be good and with the ability to get to destinations in London without changing, the revenues will be much higher than a purely local service. The return of a regular service from Okehampton to Exeter has already been confirmed by the government – and an announcement on train times and journey times is expected soon. Under the TORS project, with even faster journey times of around 20 minutes for Exeter-Okehampton and PlymouthTavistock, and about 65 minutes throughout with stops at Okehampton and Tavistock, there is an opportunity to create a truly integrated transport scheme that spreads the benefits over a huge area. How? By express bus links integrated with the railway which can provide faster public transport journey times than ever before, to and from the centre of Exeter to the places mentioned in the first paragraph. Those new links using bus and rail to best effect are true game-changers and the journey time savings, over the best public transport can currently offer, immense. In an extreme case, public transport journeys from Padstow to Exeter will be around three hours faster than at present. The effects for Tavistock and Okehampton will be profound. With extensive development planned in both towns, and
