Tarka Line - Exeter to Barnstaple - services, passenger numbers, carriages, engineering works, incidents and events

[whole diary]

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Needs coleford junction altering so that trains can run both lines (not amazingly usefull but would be handy if one gets delayed) and a couple of passing points, the aspiration should be the infrastructure to maintain a half hourly service but with lack of units hourly one fast one slow would be good, that gives room for growth and capacity for freight or extra peak services if needed

[The SprinterMeister]

Needs coleford junction altering so that trains can run both lines (not amazingly usefull but would be handy if one gets delayed) and a couple of passing points, the aspiration should be the infrastructure to maintain a half hourly service but with lack of units hourly one fast one slow would be good, that gives room for growth and capacity for freight or extra peak services if needed

I think Coleford Jn depends on what the current aspirations of the Dartmoor Railway are this week as regards running their long proposed service between Okehampton and Exeter. You would need to alter the signalling system as well as there is nobody to hand the Barnstaple line token to the driver. There hasn't been since 1971 when Coleford Jn box closed and the former double line converted to two parrallel single lines.

There isn't a lot of point in catering for freight, simply because there isn't any and I doubt Tescos have got any plans to serve their new Barnstaple store by rail while other stores in the area are served by road. Lapford loop has gone and I can't see Rose Removals ever sending anything by rail in any case.

[TerminalJunkie]

The 30 or so daily users (that is from all of them) would still be no more than a bike ride away from a station, considerably nearer than many Barnstaple station users.

North Devon Halfwits? Isn't that a bit unnecessary?* Just refer to them as the Barnstaple Station Railway Development Society (BaStaRDS for short), and be done with it.

Oh, and 'The 30 or so daily users (that is from all of them)' figure is just plain wrong (or, knowing Patrick, made up). The actual total for 2009/10 is 31,354. (Data taken from http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529); the actual daily total rather depends on whether you divide the total by 365 or (more reasonably, by not counting Sundays and Holidays) 300, which will put it somewhere between 86 and 105.

An alternative way of looking at it is that 31,354 is about 31,351 more than the number of people in the North Devon Public Transport Users Group.

*After all, if I was I a halfwit and you compared me to Patrick Adams I would be utterly mortified.

[John R]

Although if you assume that most daily users do a return journey then you get to around 40 to 50, which isn't so far out from their figures, and would imply a very low volume of pax per calling point.

What concerns me is how a couple of people can call themselves a rail user group and get this type of publicity and quite possible influence the debate. Maybe some locals who don't share their view should try and contact the "organisation" and join it. Does is have a constitution, committee members, etc? Who is entitled to join? Who decides?   

[TerminalJunkie]

Although if you assume that most daily users do a return journey then you get to around 40 to 50, which isn't so far out from their figures

Given that the actual figures are trivially easy to obtain, I wouldn't describe an error that is somewhere between 43% and 75% as 'isn't so far out'.

In any case, I don't really care how small or large the figure is: the problem is that they have plucked it out of nowhere.

What concerns me is how a couple of people can call themselves a rail user group and get this type of publicity and quite possible influence the debate.

cf. the Taxpayers Alliance.

[John R]

But given you had asserted that the correct figure was around 100, I was making the point that their figure was closer (in absolute numbers) to the actual answer than yours given you had forgotten to divide by two.

How do you know that they've plucked the figure out of nowhere? They may have done a count on a couple of days, or extrapolated the usage they see on the services they travel on. If so, as we see from the rail regulator's figures, they're in the right ball park that usage spread across the stations is very small.     

[TerminalJunkie]

How do you know that they've plucked the figure out of nowhere?

The phrase 'knowing Patrick' may have been a bit of a clue...

[The SprinterMeister]

An alternative way of looking at it is that 31,354 is about 31,351 more than the number of people in the North Devon Public Transport Users Group.

*After all, if I was I a halfwit and you compared me to Patrick Adams I would be utterly mortified.

Quite. Three extra people driving cars from Barnstaple to Tiverton Parkway won't cause Gridlock on the A361 or upset the macro-economics of the Barnstaple line so to be quite honest let the North Devon Public Transport Users Group (sic) drive their cars to Tiverton Parkway. And leave the Barnstaple line to its own devices. If they get their act together they can all fit in one car but I doubt they are intelligent enough to do that. Bit of a shame the 1A74 doesn't actually stop at Parkway to pick them up and get them to London for 09:00 or so but there you go....

[FlyingDutchman]

After buying a book on the Exeter to Barnstaple Line from Middleton Press most of the line was double track from Exeter to Copplestone.

Yeoford had a three platforms and the other remaining station to Barnstaple had a 2 platforms.

I guess with a more frequent service on the line you will have to re-instate a second platform at Chapelton ? and Yeoford reading to re-instate the service to Okehampton .

Guy

[The SprinterMeister]

I guess with a more frequent service on the line you will have to re-instate a second platform at Chapelton ?

I don't think realistically bearing in mind the increase in staff and units you'd need to increase the service that Barnstaple realistically can support trains on a more frequent basis than hourly.

It might be worth reinstating an early fast limited stop train at about 05:45 from Barnstaple to connect into 1A74 at Exeter (arrive Padd at 09:01). That might get a few cars off the A361. Only thing being I doubt you'd get that many passengers on the outward working at about 04:30 off Exeter though.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Perhaps rather belatedly, the North Devon Journal have picked up the story:

NDJ COMMENT: A station too far on line?

Heresy though it might be for people to say it, but might local rail watchdogs have a point when they say trains on the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) line currently stop at too many stations. No one, least of all the Journal, likes to think of our precious public transport links being cut back further, but when the North Devon Public Transport Users group points out the relative lack of use at some of the more minor stations, it does give food for thought.

The upside of any rationalisation of services would be faster trains to Exeter and thus quicker links with the rest of the country, so the proposal has merit from that perspective.

It's a topic which needs some serious debate and consideration as the issue of rail franchise renewal looms large. Never did the mantra 'use it or lose it', ring so true.

[Umberleigh]

The Station usage figures for April 2010 to March 2011 (posted on this site) show an increase for every Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line station.

Evidently people are using these stations, so why should they lose them?

Two ideas for speeding up the journey:

a) a signal box at Eggesford, or upgrade Crediton box with CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision). Precious minutes are lost with present arrangements

b) close Salmon Pool level crossing, which restricts speed on a fast part of the line


 

[ellendune]

A further contribution from the North Devon Journal http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/story-15703728-detail/story.html

THE rail users group which sparked a storm of controversy by suggesting station closures on the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line has further explained its reasons for the proposal.

The North Devon Public Transport Users (NDPTU) group says the line needs to be "dragged into the 21st century".

John Gulliver from the group, it would benefit wider North Devon if the service to Exeter was faster.

The group believes that if several smaller stations, such as Morchard Road and Copplestone were closed, journey times from Barnstaple to Exeter could be reduced to 45 minutes.

Mr Gulliver said figures show many of the smaller stations barely have one or two passengers using each train which passes through them.

He said the vast majority of Tarka Line users alight the train at Barnstaple.

Figures showing passenger numbers from 2009-10 confirm the NDPTU's beliefs, and show 73.5 per cent of passengers on the service get on at Barnstaple. This equates to 302,998 passengers a year.

In comparison just 162 people used the train station at Chapelton in the same year, and 8,164 used Copplestone ^ with just two passengers per train using the Copplestone stop.

Mr Gulliver said: "We've got to drag this line into the 21st Century. We're trapped in a Victorian system which uses stations which date back 160 years.

"The sensible thing to do is to concentrate on what rail does best ^ moving people in large numbers quickly between major centres. The way it is running at the moment it is an expensive way to serve rural haunts."

Those who use the line to access smaller stations were outraged by the claims and launched a counter-campaign.

The Steve Tucker All Star Jazz Band, which organises a 'Jazz Train', was among those opposing closures.

[FlyingDutchman]

I think if you provide better service to these stations people will use it

Maybe if someone look at Community Freight idea , the line can be upgraded


Guy

[The SprinterMeister]

I think if you provide better service to these stations people will use it

Maybe if someone look at Community Freight idea , the line can be upgraded


Guy

What freight? There isn't any freight. Hasnt been since 1991 when the UKF stopped running to Lapford. It doesn't follow that in an area with virtually no heavy industry that if you upgrade a line to carry freight people will put freight on it. The siding at Barnstaple is still extant but the new Tescos blocks access to it. Can't see Tescos doing rail deliveries to one store (two if you count the one at Crediton) in an area where the stores are otherwise exclusively served by road transport.

I think you can discount freight....