Campaigns to re-open Barnstaple to Bideford line (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

There's a bit more here with recent developments in Devon Live.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/bold-scheme-aims-reinstate-rail-7715334

While I'll leave it to those with more local knowledge to comment on the chances of this coming to much in the current economic climate, the point made in the article about the great success of Okehampton Station and The Dartmoor Line is a good one.

[Ralph Ayres]

Indeed not absolutely impossible, but the railway is on the wrong side of the river at Bideford and up a bit of a hill, and Barnstaple station is also not brilliantly positioned for the town centre. The current bus service takes you more conveniently centre to centre, almost certainly more frequently than the train would run. Perhaps the train is envisaged more to connect Bideford with the wider world, but if competition from the railway reduces bus passenger numbers and so leads to a reduced frequency I'm not sure that fewer buses or a walk to the station would be more popular locally than keeping the existing level of bus service.

If the line hadn't closed I'd definitely support keeping it open, but reopening it now is a different matter.

[infoman]

on South West local channel BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Spotlight at 18:30pm Tuesday night.

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Call for return of Devon town's train services

Bringing back train services to a Devon town could provide a boost to transport further afield, a rail user group has said.

Campaigners have called for Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) to bring back services to Bideford nearly 60 years after passenger trains stopped running there due to cuts.

Tim Steer, vice-chairmain of the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Rail Association, said getting trains back to Bideford could ease congestion in Barnstaple.

GWR said a decision on bringing back trains to Bideford would depend on the business case put forward for the idea.

Bideford's station closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts, which spelled the end for thousands of miles of railway and stations.

Campaigners have called for the station to be linked back to the Tarka Line, which runs passenger services between Exeter and Barnstaple.

Mr Steer said traffic congestion had become a problem on Barnstaple's roads.

Earlier this year, Devon County Council apologised to drivers after roadworks at the Cedars roundabout near Barnstaple caused severe traffic delays.

[Western Pathfinder]

From this evenings edition of Spotlight,starts at about 05:50 into the program
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001zz6s/spotlight-evening-news-04062024.

[Red Squirrel]

From this evenings edition of Spotlight,starts at about 05:50 into the program
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001zz6s/spotlight-evening-news-04062024.

Irritating to hear the usual BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) line at the end about passenger numbers being ‘way down’ since COVID… plus they seem to think Labour’s plans for GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) are somehow different from the current government’s…

[TaplowGreen]

From this evenings edition of Spotlight,starts at about 05:50 into the program
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001zz6s/spotlight-evening-news-04062024.

Irritating to hear the usual BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) line at the end about passenger numbers being ‘way down’ since COVID… plus they seem to think Labour’s plans for GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) are somehow different from the current government’s…

I see the cost of setting up GBR has already risen from £205 million to £381 million.....if Labour's plans include keeping railway costs under control it'd certainly be a good differentiator.