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

[whole diary]

[DavidBrown]

I'd have a guess at ^40,000 on improving access to Barnstaple station could be something as simple as a new pedestrian crossing on Station Road (a quick Google search seems to suggest that's about what you would get for your money). As for ^75,000 on "improving the line", again complete guesses, but could it be the admin cost for formally raising a speed limit on a section of track, or the cost of running an extra service on a Sunday for the summer, for example?

[RichardB]

Cllr Cann is one of North Devon Council's representatives on the Devon & Exeter Rail Project Working Party (ExeRail) - they met last Friday and the figures being talked about were presented in the programme for the forthcoming financial year.

David is spot on re the ^40,000 - it is for a pedestrian crossing on Station Road in Barnstaple.  Three designs already drawn up will be put to public consultation and the preferred scheme will be implemented.  The ^75,000 is Devon County Council's revenue support for two weekday and one Sunday Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line trains.  It's not new and dates back to the introduction of the near hourly weekday service in 2008 and the new early Sunday morning train in 2010.  The plan under the now ended franchise competition was that these services would be taken into the franchise and Devon support ended from 2015 and I'd be confident that will still be the case.

Richard Burningham,
Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

[John R]

Thanks Richard. So the comment in the article about the 75k being Network Rail funded is incorrect.

[RichardB]

Yes, John, bit of a misunderstanding there.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the North Devon Journal:

Congestion in diversion

I was amused, not to say irritated, to read that during the work on the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line "buses face a 26-mile diversion". This would be true if they followed the "official" diversion route via South Molton. They do not.

First Great Western have switched on their corporate sat navs and realised that there is a much shorter route through Atherington and High Bickington. I assume this was not chosen as the preferred diversion during the closure of the A377 because of the narrow road and sharp corners.

In Atherington there is a very sharp turn to get into the B3217 from the Torrington Road. Coaches and articulated lorries need the entire road width plus the space outside the church, for weddings and funeral cars, to be able to make that turn.

Pedestrians just get scattered; damage is being done to road surface, street furniture and buildings. At times there are quite substantial delays and traffic jams as buses and lorries meet each other on the winding narrow roads and then have to edge past each other, usually at the expense of damage to paths, hedges and kerbs. I dread to think what happens in High Bickington; the road there is straighter but even narrower than in Atherington.

What adds icing to the cake is that there seem to be two buses on the rail replacement service in each direction following close behind each other. The first usually has a few passengers; the second usually has one person seated in solitary splendour or none at all. I would imagine First Great Western are replacing trains with the same capacity on the buses. This was fairly gormless as it would have been easy to predict that virtually nobody wants to travel by bus rather than a train as they would be doing that anyway, there being a bus route that parallels the train line ordinarily.

JONATHAN FRAYNE
Atherington.

[bobm]

This work has finished now, but weren't the two buses operating on different stopping patterns?  One calling all stations and one fast to Crediton?

[John R]

The resurrection of the thread took me to the tarkarail.org site so see how passenger numbers are going. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for a few months, so we can't see whether numbers have held up over the summer.

[grahame]

I briefly looked at the timetable on this when the replacements were on; two buses were indeed connecting with each train - one non-stop to Barnstaple, the other serving intermediate points and much, much slower.

Even with the non-stop bus service replacing  stopping train, I'm not surprised to read that buses were quiet (though I questing the thoroughness and completeness of the evidence gathering).  But with few people on the buses, where did they go? I would suggest that - being winterish - many people still had to travel and a significant number probably drove, and not the 26 mile diversion route.  These drivers would have had far more effect on the traffic levels in intermediate villages than the buses, half of which probably couldn't have used the diversion anyway due to the need to serve intermediate places.

[RichardB]

The resurrection of the thread took me to the tarkarail.org site so see how passenger numbers are going. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for a few months, so we can't see whether numbers have held up over the summer.

I compile the sheet you see on Tarkarail.org from figures supplied by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and have attached the latest one (which I'll send to the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Rail Association now too).

All still going very well on the Tarka Line - up 5.7% so far this year and, as long as we don't get a repeat of last year's floods, the year should finish with the line on nearly 600,000 journeys, the highest yet seen.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for posting those figures, Richard - and congratulations on the record! 

[John R]

Yes, thank you Richard.

I notice the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Rail site has just published a strategy document as to how the branch could/should be developed over the next 10+ years. I'm not sure I quite bought the comment about electrification but other than that it seemed to be a sensible and coherent view of the way forward.

[TonyK]

I would suggest that - being winterish - many people still had to travel and a significant number probably drove, and not the 26 mile diversion route. 

Quite right, grahame. I spend a lot of time in these parts, having a cottage near South Molton (special rates for Coffee Shop members!) and a daughter and two children in Crediton. There are many better routes than the official diversion, albeit not with a double-decker bus. It's not surprising that takers for the bus services were so low compared to train passengers. Time, here, is of the essence, and many will have returned to the car. I'm sure they will return quickly to rail.

[John R]

Good to see the final figures published for the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line, showing another 10% increase in passenger journeys over the year. Would have probably hit 600k if it wasn't for the weather disruption in December. Up 54% in just 4 years.

How much more can peak journeys continue to increase without additional rolling stock I wonder? And how long before DCC^» (Devon County Council - website) seriously consider the possibility of infrastructure improvements to enable a 2 tph service?

[TonyK]

There will be a big rush to get to the front of the queue for any cascaded stock from elsewhere. Bristol City Council and the other three neighbours have already been to see a minister to get their nose in front. Any infrastructure upgrade beyond the most minor is likely to take years to get through the GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) process. It can be faster, and the speed seems to be in proportion to the money available from outside of Network Rail to pay for the project.

[DavidBrown]

One thing I have noticed more recently is how 4 car 143's now seem to be the norm rather than the exception. Whilst the quality of rolling stock still leaves a lot to be desires, the quantity definitely seems to be moving in a positive direction.