Dawlish: one year on and no commitment to new railwayThe Dawlish mainline a year ago
^Where we had a railway line we now have a Peruvian rope bridge masquerading as a railway line.^
Those were the words of Tudor Evans, the leader of Plymouth City Council, to
MPs▸ in the aftermath of last winter^s storms that saw the Great Western mainline at Dawlish collapse into the sea.
A year on from the line^s initial battering, and months after the 300-strong ^Orange Army^ of Network Rail engineers put the route back together again, the track is only modestly more protected from the ravages of the sea.
Yes, ^35 million was spent on re-building the Dawlish sea wall, re-establishing the service that links much of Devon and Cornwall with the rest of the
UK▸ in time for the vital Easter holiday season.
But progress on ensuring the line can withstand another storm of the 2014 vintage ^ adding ^resilience^ has been slow.
Shoring up the existing line? Network Rail estimates it could cost between ^398 million and ^659 million, but the quango has yet to complete a detailed report into options. It is due in the ^early part^ of this year.
A new additional inland route? A study looked into seven possibilities, and the Department for Transport said last week it is still ^looking at^ the Network Rail report which will be ^used to influence our future plans for the railways in the South West^.
Confusingly, a separate report into reviving the old Dartmoor line from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton has also been commissioned. Though, to be clear, that doesn^t mean it is the only option that could be taken forward or, indeed, that it will get the go-ahead.
In the meantime, the region crosses its fingers, hoping Isambard Kingdom Brunel^s snaking route can withstand another barrage (trains are still periodically delayed or cancelled during bad weather). Hardly the foundations to build a regional economy that could resemble California and its Silicon Valley, as George Osborne argued last week.
Strangely, the political will seems to be there.
Plans for a second route have been demanded for decades. Brunel himself wrote reports on tackling storm damage at Dawlish in 1855 construction work began on the so-called Dawlish Avoiding Line between Exeter and Plymouth ^ it was the subject of two parliamentary Acts ^ but was abandoned when Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and war broke out.
In the decades since, ministers have given the idea the brush-off. Too expensive. Too difficult. Not enough political capital to be gained. Yet the events of last year changed the mood.
National exposure buoyed by the business-led Open for Business online campaign ^ #openforbusiness ^ meant the issue could no longer be parked. The billions of pounds being promised on
HS2▸ to the north of England only heightened the sense that the South West needed to given more attention. MPs have highlighted Treasury figures showing ^41 per head spent on rail in the South West compared to ^294 in London
Every senior politician in Britain is button-holed about it the moment they enter Devon.
^What we have to do is make sure we get something that is resilient, and is matched up to the kind of weather conditions we faced last year,^ said Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.
^I favour strengthening the transport links to the South West. The events at Dawlish demonstrated the precarious situation that we^re in,^ said Prime Minister David Cameron.
Chancellor George Osborne said: ^We are looking if we can increase the resilience and not make it so dependent on that one link.^
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg? ^You can^t have the South West peninsula reliant in the long-run on a rail link that is as vulnerable to erosion and winter storms as Dawlish is.^
Ed Balls, the Shadow Chanellor, has also signalled his support. ^People in other parts of the country wouldn^t put up with the time it takes by train from Exeter or Plymouth,^ he said.
And yet nothing committed.
Andrew Leadbetter, chairman of the Peninsula Rail Task Force, a coalition of local business leaders and politicians, has warned of ^warm words^ and the initiative being lost on in thicket of reports, studies and audits.
In November, the Prime Minister urged the region to speak with ^one voice^. In fairness, it had been. The Peninsula Rail Task Force had already drawn up a plan that has gained as much consensus as a region as sparse and diverse as Cornwall, Devon and Somerset could muster. In short, there was something for everyone, a ^7 billion plan with different strands that worked together or not at all.
Some ^350 million of investment in the Dawlish line ^ compared to the ^20 million Network Rail has currently committed ^ plus two new inland routes: re-opening the Dartmoor line as a back-up and to open up rail services in under-served west Devon and north Cornwall (cost: around ^850 million), and burrowing a tunnel under Haldon Hill to create a faster inter-city service, which would come with a ^3 billion price-tag but create a genuine Dawlish Avoiding Line.
Throw in electric trains and measures to avoid flooding east of Exeter and the package still comes in at a fraction of the cost of high-speed trains between London and Birmingham. At Prime Minister^s Questions in December, Mr Cameron confirmed officials would ^take forward^ the plan. Perhaps, however, the brakes are being applied in the Westcountry rather than Whitehall. The region has held the line, more united on an issue than since the foot and mouth crisis put the far South West on lock-down. But it would be na^ve to think there are not competing priorities. It^s election year to boot.
On the south Devon coast, in areas such as Torbay and Dawlish, the fear is of the existing line being compromised. Closed even. Though few, if any, would want to call time on one of Britain^s most spectacular rail vistas. That^s why the language is so delicately poised ^ a new railway would be ^additional^ rather than an ^alternative^.
Which inland railway should be opted for is also a moot point depending on your vantage point. Many in Plymouth and, to a lesser extent, Cornwall want the faster line under Haldon Hill, arguing getting trains to the region^s biggest city in less than three hours will reap huge benefits for inward investment and tourism.
They point to the Network Rail report showing that re-opening the former London and South Western Railway route from Exeter via Okehampton, closed by Beeching in 1968 because he disliked ^duplicates^, would add four minutes to journeys to Plymouth and 14 minutes on through services to Cornwall because of trains reversing from the station.
Proponents, though, say it is a much cheaper back-up if Dawlish fails and has the added benefits for new local services. Of all the improvements, re-opening the Dartmoor line has the most political momentum. Launching his economic plan for the South West, Mr Osborne said it boasted a ^strong case^. It is assumed shoring up the existing line will happen, perhaps involving huge new breakwaters, but once more nothing has been confirmed.
Mr Osborne told an audience of business leaders last week: ^Plymouth has never received the political attention that our great cities of the north have received.
^Just as the South West has never been as much a part of the debate about our nation^s economic imbalances as the north of England has.^
He promised to address that. A full-blooded rail commitment would be a first step.
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