Follow up to today's TWSW» seminar will be linked here ... first thing tomorrow morning!
Chair Chris Irwin talked of us needing to work towards the new normal, and to get things back better. He spoke of the rest of this year still being abnormal, and of the coronavirus pandemic and changes accelerating changes that might have been underway anyway. Some changes, originally expected to be temporary, will be crystalised into being permanent.
Good to then hear updates at the TravelWatch SouthWest Zoom meeting yesterday afternoon on the Devizes Gateway and Salisbury to Exeter line proposals, and hear for the first time from one of the protagonists on the proposals for a railway to serve Bridport.
Devizes Gateway is a proposal for a station on the "Berks and Hants" line about 3 miles from the town centre, in the middle of a gap of just over 20 miles. Devizes is the largest town (and its growing) without rail connection in Wiltshire, and is at the heart of a large area of countryside with no alternative stations. As well as outgoing passenger traffic, there are inbound opportunities for visitors - it's midway between Stonehenge and Avebury, in lovely countryside, the Kennet and Avon Canal passes through, and Devizes itself - where a renowned museum is moving to the old assize court buildings (proposed/probable) and the town itself is a major attraction.
The Wilts and Berks line is the main line to the West of England. It lost its local services in the 1960s, with the only remaining passenger services being West of England expresses. High Speed Trains (
HSTs▸ , 125s) ran the services for many years - excellent long distance trains, but impractical to stop routinely at extra intermediate stations on a frequent basis in addition within their long distance roles. Come the replacement of HSTs by
IETs▸ , and with the progressive introduction of additional semi-fast services (now up to every 2 hours in the normal timetable) an additional call is now operationally practical.
The scheme for a new station at Lydeway, on the A342 out of the town towards the east, utilises a flat open site near where the old branch line from Devizes joined the main line. It has considerable local support, and is one of the schemes supported by the Department for Transport "Reversing Beeching" seed funding for investigation and development work, even though there wasn't actually a station at Lydeway in the past. There's an excellent business case, and operational practicality using and developing current services, with further improvement if the calling service is lifted to hourly. West of Newbury, there are currently five passenger trains every 2 hours - two are expresses, two terminate at Bedwyn, and one skips over Bedwyn to form semi-fasts through Lydeway.
The line from
Salisbury to Exeter was the competing main line from London (Waterloo) to Exeter and beyond, but services were reduced and the line was singled with limited passing loops in the 1960s, and since that time various changes have limited the ability to easily redouble throughout. Passenger numbers at intermediate stations have rocketed, and whilst the line can just about cope with an hourly train each way, reliability is awful as even the odd extra service gets added - which is increasingly needed, especially towards Exeter.
A half hourly ("Devon Metro") service is needed from Axminster westward, and the line is also used for diverted long distance (
GWR▸ ) services when the line from Exeter to east of Taunton (Cogload Junction) is closed at some point. SERUG is working with local government and rail industry partners to encourage additional capacity through the provision of additional passing loops west or Yeovil Junction.
Significant Webinar participant comment was made on the degradation over time and recent withdrawal of catering services on Exeter - Salisbury - London (Waterloo) services.
Bridport lost its rail service in 1970 - a branch line from Maiden Newton on the Heart of Wessex line (Weymouth - Dorchester - Yeovil - Frome - Westbury) to the main town station, which had extended in the past to West Bay, originally known as "Bridport Harbour". Since closure, Bridport has expanded dramatically, with further expansion expected, and can become gridlocked with tourists in summer.
The Jurassic Coast Railway is a proposal for a narrow gauge (2'6") line from West Bay, via a park and ride at Broomhill where the line's depot and
HQ▸ will be, Skilling, Bridport Town Centre, Court Orchard and Pyemore, rejoining the route of the old Bridport branch just before Lodors before following it through Powerstock and Toller to Maiden Newton. The proposal is for a community railway, locally looked after and run, using battery or hydrogen powered trains, and running all year.
The proposals are at early stages, and are so innovative in many aspects that there is a need to bring people on board and in support, but a very great deal of thought has been given to many of the key questions that are being asked. Models such as the Welsh Highland Line, which was rebuilt generations after the original railway was scrubbed out and runs across / along the main road in Porthmadog are quoted as something of a parallel, and with a trackbed that originally carried a broad gauge railway, diagrams show that there is room for the railway line to share with a cycle and foot path.
The TWSW session has very useful and content-heavy and over coming weeks there will be far more opportunity to interact and provide other updates - I guess that was bound to be due to the gap from previous sessions. Each of the projects above has its own forum thread and I suggest we follow up there.
Bridport -
http://www.passenger.chat/24522Devizes Gateway -
http://www.passenger.chat/19298SERUG -
http://www.passenger.chat/21286
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