Northern Route Working Group

Always a pleasure chatting to @ChurchfieldJE on @BBCCornwall this morning. Apologies for not putting my teeth in properly this morning - the railway section starts at 2hrs 8mins in, starting with @networkrailwest and then me. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

@NorthernRouteWG @Roger89835988 @eo_hack1 Given that this route used to exist, and the big picture includes the need for: * better/more resilient infrastructure * improving connections to, from & within the South West & Dartmoor * #LevellingUp making the case 'compelling' is surely do-able! …rthernrouteworkinggroup.wordpress.com/2020/12/10/dev…

@Roger89835988 @eo_hack1 All the more reason, then, to make a compelling argument for it. DCC has been extremely supportive of the TORS work.

@eo_hack1 And Devon CC have been clear that they have other priorities.

The latest @Modern_Railways has an article by @AndyRoden1 on the TORS proposals to reopen Exeter-Okehampton-Tavistock-Plymouth. A decade after #Dawlish, we think the proposals are worthy of detailed investigation to establish once and for all whether there's a case.

@eo_hack1 @Modern_Railways @AndyRoden1 Peter, could we suggest you take a look at the detailed TORS proposals, the support from a host of organisations there? It's impossible to judge the case when we don't have the detailed evaluation needed here. None of the experts who've looked at it have shot it down.

@NorthernRouteWG @Modern_Railways @AndyRoden1 There's a case alright, it's just not a very good one.

Good show from @AnneMarieMorris here. The @SouthWestRRP is the single most important rail priority for the SW. Money was no object in 2014, remember, and the plan - which runs into the 2070s - still ain't funded despite excellent work by NR. DfT, exdigitate, please.

@Copperhull Far west is prime supermarket goods on rail territory - but only if availability of a route is virtually guaranteed. Northern Route helps this and is more easily graded than the coastal line too.

@NorthernRouteWG one day this might happen in SW!

@Copperhull Full #NorthernRoute / #DartmoorLine reinstatement is the great enabler rail freight in the far SW. Not primarily due to #Dawlish but because of its easier gradients and the fact that a way to Plym and beyond is much more certain whatever the weather.

@NorthernRouteWG if this can happen in the Highlands then Dartmoor should have no objections! This should or thing would be a game changer in SW!

@Copperhull @AndyRoden1 @TransitionTavi @DevonCC @CllrAndreaDavis Not since Network Rail's 2014 work. Funding is needed for full SOBC and then if it's as good as we think it could be, that's when detailed surveys, route options (because you'll want a few around Tavvy in particular) and so on are done.

@AndyRoden1 @TransitionTavi @NorthernRouteWG @DevonCC @CllrAndreaDavis Anyone done a full survey and costing (including new Meldon viaduct)?

A great paper here from @greengauge21 on transport and adaptation to climate change. Note the difference between 'resilience' and 'adaptation'. De-silo transport thinking and above all, plan for the long-term. In the SW, #NorthernRoute/full #DartmoorLine are critical.

@networkrail @networkrailwest We're on the case working pro bono to establish whether there's a genuinely credible case for full #DartmoorLine reinstatement. We'll be publishing revised analysis before too long. @SouthWestRRP MUST happen though.

⌛ It was nine years ago this week that a stretch of coastal railway in Dawlish collapsed into the sea after a huge storm. 🌬️ 🌊 We've been hard at work building a bigger sea wall to protect the railway in this part of Devon: 👉 networkrail.co.uk/running-the-ra… @networkrailwest

@amotorhomme We'll have it done before long, we're sure. Vital though that @SouthWestRRP is fully funded. A major programme from Teignmouth to Exeter running into the 2070s, #NorthernRoute cd unlock longer blockades to speed it up massively and save £££. Both projects must happen.

@PaulMer29904765 @Chisholm4Trail @markannand @FgottenRelics Paul, there isn't a definite line of route yet - the work is about establishing whether there's a good case for putting **A** railway back between Tavistock and Okehampton. But we're adamant: GW must be retained in some form and ideally extended as it helps the overall case.

@NorthernRouteWG @Chisholm4Trail @markannand @FgottenRelics If the railway is ever extended back to Tavistock and Bere Alston there is no way that Network Rail are going to allow a walking/cycle path right next to a line where trains may be doing 90mph even if it is only a single track with passing loops.

(3#8) Meldon Viaduct's wrought & cast iron trestles carried their first train on 12 October 1874. Built by Engineer W R Galbraith for LSWR's Lydford-Okehampton line, the track sat 150ft above the valley on a rising gradient of 1:77 to the west, incorporating a 30ch radius curve.

@PaulMer29904765 @Chisholm4Trail @markannand @FgottenRelics It would bring passengers to Tavistock and Okehampton and if you can create a route that's almost entirely segregated from roads, that's a huge win for the area.

@PaulMer29904765 @Chisholm4Trail @markannand @FgottenRelics Why not? The expert team can't see a reason why you wouldn't retain the Granite Way nearby if not alongside - the cost of doing so and extending it would be marginal and add to the overall case.

Our new year message is that we need to integrate bus and rail services across the whole country - see our first blog of the year: Okehampton's new multi-modal interchange greengauge21.net/okehamptons-mu… @PlymouthHerald @WMNNews

@TheMeadie If you find a few hundred million quid down the back of the sofa, do let us know. We could put it to good use...

@NorthernRouteWG Really, really important to have this line. The sooner the better! 🤞

It's the 60th anniversary of The Reshaping of British Railways in March. We're hoping to get our revised proposals for this reinstatement out to mark that day. It seems appropriate.

@PenrhosPete @AndyRoden1 We'll get something out Pete - service spec is being worked up at the moment, from which the infrastructure requirements follow. The SW will have this railway back.

@NorthernRouteWG @AndyRoden1 Good luck with that one

@Chisholm4Trail @markannand @FgottenRelics If it were possible to extend the Granite Way to the edge of Tavistock, that creates a wonderful multi-use trail that will surely be as much of an attraction as the Camel Trail in Cornwall. A no brainer not just to retain but to enhance as part of the project.