Passengers on rural lines in Devon and Cornwall up 65% in five years

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

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

The number of journeys made on rural railway lines in Devon and Cornwall has increased by 65% in the last five years, says a report.

Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership (DCRP^» (Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership - about)) said 1.5m journeys were made on the six branch lines in 2009.

The Newquay line was up 54.3%, with an extra 23,306 journeys and the line between Truro and Falmouth had an extra 85,000 journeys, up 30.9%.

The DCRP put the rises down to better services and more awareness.
 
The Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) line between Exeter and Barnstaple had an 11.8% increase and the Tamar Valley line between Gunnislake and Plymouth had a 12% increase.

In Cornwall, the line between Liskeard and Looe had an 18.3% increase and the line between St Ives and Penzance had a 15.4% increase.

The DCRP called the increases "good news all round", but said it wanted to increase these numbers further during 2010.

Cornwall-based railways expert Andrew Roden cited improvements such as a passing loop on the single-track line between Truro and Falmouth.

"That's increased the number of journeys from one an hour to two, so railway transport becomes a more viable option," he said. "That, along with the work of the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, has brought rail travel to the attention of more people. "And of course you don't need to worry about parking if you take the train."

He said the increases were not confined the summer, showing commuters were taking the train. "A few years ago the Newquay line had been written off as a basket case. Better services from First Great Western have transformed it."

[Andy]

With regard to patronage, if, as Andrew Roden suggests, the lines are being used more by commuters, this is a very encouraging sign that the "rail culture" so decimated by the cuts to lines and services in the 60s and afterwards is being reborn. To me this shift in consciousness is probably the greatest achievement of the partnership thus far.

On the infrastructure development side, there seem to be many exciting proposals for the branch lines around at the moment. It will be interesting to see which, if any, go forward over the next 12 months.

Barnstaple/Exeter: Dartmoor Railway connection to Okehampton at Yeoford
Plymouth/Bere Alston/Gunnislake: Tavistock reopening
Liskeard/Looe: Moorswater Park & Ride
Par/Newquay: Newquay station improvements to enable a more frequent service; park and ride into Newquay; eco-town(s) developments.
Truro/Falmouth:
St Erth/St Ives: St Erth park & ride.

Needless to say, without finance and stock for more or longer trains, growth will be limited.
   

[FlyingDutchman]

Government want more people to ride on the trains, but will not do anything about it in the South West.

When I moved down to Devon the Council said they wanted to improve the rail link between Exeter and London.

Also to build an new Railway Station at Collumpton and  build an new Railway Station on the Avocet^▸ (Branch line from Exeter to Exmouth) Line in between Digby and Sowton and Polsloe Bridge.

Re-open the rail link to Okehampton;  and build a new town outside Exeter

New Rail Freight Yard near this new town

None of these have been completed

Yes the numbers have gone up on each of the branch lines, and people have to suffer old rolling stock.

[Btline]

It does go to show: provide a decent service, and it will be used!

Lessons should be learnt! Not only for the Transwilts, but also the Bristol to Worcester line, where bad planning and cooperation between TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) prevented an hourly service being viable. All credit to LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) to invest in a better service, but it was never going to work unless the trains joined up with the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Gloucester terminators, to provide a through service at even hourly intervals. Instead we are left with a inadequate 2 hourly service, with a gap in the morning peak (i.e. when people actually want to travel!). Ashchurch again, becomes an untapped market, with the M5 getting all the custom!

Anyway, I'm beginning to rant and drift, so I'll leave it there!

[FlyingDutchman]

This is what Railfuture  in the South West


http://www.railfuture-sw.co.uk/

[grahame]

It does go to show: provide a decent service, and it will be used!

Yes ... this is further evidence to help prove of that hypothysis ... which I think most of us know anyway.  But let's hope for many, many further proofs of the same thing 

It doesn't follow, though, that just because a service will be used (to the point of overcrowding) that it's actually in the interests of the rail industry to provide it

The first problem is that in many cases a "decent service" can't be magiced out of thin air. The first element is that you need the resources to get it going - and with franchises so short, it's not really practical for the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to set up those resources.  The ROSCOs^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) are wary of building more diesel trains because of electrification plans, because of the "diesel trains ltd" proposal that I think the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) made to undercut them, and because train leasing is more profitable in a market where a high price can be charged for a resource because it's scarse / in demand.

The second problem is that even on heavy loading figures, it's hard to make a profit under the current setup from a more local service.   If you take a service that charges 50p+ per passenger per mile, in 7 coach trains running at an average speed of 80 m.p.h., your potential income is 20,000 pounds per hour.  So that's a "125".   Take a 150, 20p per passenger per mile, 2 coach train, averaging 50 m.p.h, and the potential top income is 1,500 pounds per hour.   Those are heavily distorted figures; I provide them as an income comparison only - it's that comparison that's given us a system where  companies can bid large sums for franchises, yet for it to still be in their interest to supress loadings on shorter, local services.  Having to increase Cardiff / Portsmouth from 2 to 3 coaches again was, I suspect, a financial disaster.

Congratulations to Devon and Cornwall for the overcoming these hurdles somewhat - by better use of stock and crews, and funding from other sources to help oil the wheels.  Some of the lessons as to how they've done this do transpose / transfer up to the next set of counties, others perhaps don't.   You certainly end up with a more heavily loaded network as you get further towards London, with additional risks in running extra more local trains that they'll get in the way of the longer distance and bigger ones, and delay minutes will rise again.  That's not necessarily due to the new train's timetables failing to be robust in themselves - rather, it's that an on-time local train can delay still further an already-late express.

[FarWestJohn]

I think FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff deserve credit for the operation of the Maritime during the last week's snowy weather.

Apart from last Thursday when there was an hourly service the half hourly service has been operated. I have made many trips that were not possible any other way including connections to Penzance on Saturday.

Some of the single car 153 units have been very packed with all the extra passengers especially to/from Perranwell. They have also been loaded with luggage from students returning to the Penryn university campus.

The Falmouth to Truro bus service was useless as the main roads were cleared but not the villages so the buses were trundling along the A39 empty and passengers in Devoran and Carnon Downs could not get on.

Just shows how good the train can be.

Thanks to all the staff that made this possible..

[jester]

Its so nice when someone has a positive slant on an otherwise bad time. I'm sure there were issues preventing half-hourly service as is the norm, namely the chance of the points freezing, thus making the service inoperable and of course, some staff that were unable to get to work. Good on you for your comments, tell the staff too!

[vacman]

I think we did a great job last week but we get little or no credit from the media, also in Cornwall and Plymouth First Devon and Cornwall did a pretty good job of keeping some bus routes running where Wetern Greyhound and Plymouth Citybus threw in the towel!