Great Western Coffee Shop

More than a thousand miles of high-speed railway line and new rail tunnels under the Irish Sea and the English Channel will be needed to cope with the continuing rapid growth in rail travel, according to the industry^s vision for the future network (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2008/04/explosion_in_rail_use_means_gr.html#more

Three new 200mph lines would fan out from London, halving journey times to all the big regional cities and to Scotland. A fourth new high-speed line would cross the Pennines, linking Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds.

Tracks could also be laid on top of tidal barrages being considered for the Severn, Solway and Morecambe estuaries. A dedicated freight train network would take millions of lorries off the roads and would remove a cause of huge delay for passenger trains.

The Association of Train Operating Companies has published a vision for the network in 2057, by which time, if the post-privatisation growth trend continues, the number of passengers will have more than trebled.

Rail passengers clocked up 30.1 billion miles (49 billion km) last year, the greatest distance travelled by train in peacetime and 10 billion more miles than a decade ago. The annual passenger growth rate is running at 7.8 per cent, with 1.2 billion journeys made last year.

The only years when the railways were busier were during the Second World War, when millions of troops were moved around the country. This is despite the network being a third smaller today than in 1945.

The association believes that the growth rate will decline slightly, but still forecasts that the network will be carrying 2.4 billion passengers by 2028.

It commissioned Jim Steer, the former strategy director of the Strategic Rail Authority, to consider how the network would need to expand to accommodate predicted demand.

Mr Steer^s report says that the first new high-speed line should run from London, via Heathrow, to Birmingham and Manchester. The second should run up the East Coast to Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, and the third to Bristol and Cardiff.

New and reopened lines operating at the conventional speed (about 100mph) would be needed to avoid bottlenecks on the existing network. Trains would run between Oxford and Cambridge, via Bedford, for the first time since 1967.

The disused line between Okehampton and Plymouth in Devon would be reopened to provide an alternative to Brunel^s route via the seawall at Dawlish, which faces an uncertain future because of rising sea levels.

Mr Steer said that the forecast by the Office for National Statistics of an 18 million increase in the population during the next 50 years, and environmental constraints on expanding roads and airports, meant that demand for rail travel would continue to grow even during an economic downturn.

He said:


The Government published what it claimed was a 30-year rail strategy last July, but the only commitments given were for modest expansion up to 2014.

Passenger groups voiced concerns that the cost of expanding the overstretched rail network will be paid for by yet more above-inflation ticket price rises. The most recent, which came into effect in January, saw some rail operators put up the cost of fares on some routes up by as much as 15 per cent.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, said:


Environmental groups also warned that rising ticket prices could remove the incentive to travel by train at a time when car use and short-haul flights are also at record highs.


Concern was also expressed yesterday that, as demand for rail travel grows, the already chronic overcrowding on some sections of the network will only get worse. Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, the independent national rail consumer watchdog, said:


A Department for Transport spokesperson rejected any suggestion that the Government would fail to meet future demand :

Fascinating stuff, but why does the Government support and allow regional airport expansion for inter-nation and inter -regional air travel (e.g. Birmingham to Glasgow; Cardiff to Manchester), which is far from environmentally friendly.

Does the Govt actually support it, or is it just happening? But I agree, I have work colleagues who assume that you can only get from Bristol to Manchester by air, and look at me as though I have two heads when I point out that there is a frequent rail service that is probably faster door to door.

I'm in full agreement with you on that one, John!

A colleague and I used to fly to Manchester from Bristol, but after Air South West let us down monumentally on three successive return journeys, we now go by train!

Hourly Cross Country, BTM to Manchester Piccadilly via Birmingham New Street, and without all the faffing about having to check in early for flights, waiting to collect baggage, etc., it is indeed probably quicker, door to door!

I like what the article says and agree with it. ;)

But it is yet another one! I have read articles saying that new 200 mph lines are needed for ages! FGW published one in 2002.

Hopefully the gov will start to listen to these people, resulting in an article saying "we are going to build x by 20yy." ;D ;D

More from Cat Hobbs of Campaign for Better Transport (link below) :
http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/public_transport/rail/blog

Related BBC article with its focus on the possible need for reopening the line between Okehampton-Plymouth because of the Dawlish issue (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7344204.stm

Interesting quote :

More in the link below.
http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=141507&command=displayContent&sourceNode=257390&home=yes&more_nodeId1=257393&contentPK=20389452




Network Rail said it was undertaking a study, likely to be published by the end of the year, which would look at the viability of the Dawlish line until 2050 :

What about Exeter St. Thomas to Heathfield?

Re engineering this as a double track mainline would probably cause far less environmental impact than the dualling of the A30 /A38 across the same area.

It's very funny "they" seem quite happy to bulldoze 700 houses for a third runway at Heathrow or  countless others for a new road.  However,  if you  suggest knocking down a couple of houses to put in a rail link it is considered totally unacceptable.

Quite agree 8F485144. Maybe both the Tavistock-Okehampton and Heathfield-St Thomas links should be considered. Using the Heathfield route would preserve a direct link between London, Exeter and the South Devon/English Riviera region and thus avoid adding to congestion levels on the Plymouth-Exeter A38 route. Even when the seawall finally succombs, Teignmouth could be the new terminus for Newton Abbot-Paignton local services.

Regarding the former Plymouth to Exeter via Tavistock/Okhampton route does anyone know what line speeds would be possible if it ever re-opened as a main line again.Would it be faster than the existing route via Dawlish.

Definitely not. It goes over Dartmoor, which for obvious reasons would be slower than the flat route via dawlish

Newton Abbot to Plymouth is FAR from flat and very slow, I dont think there would be much in it time wise, Okehampton to Coleford Jn at least has a fairly high linespeed at present and no doubt could be upgraded??

St Thomas to Heathfield - is Alphington Sainsbury's not in the way? The line stops just after the bridge at Marsh Barton I think. Not sure about the Heathfield end.

Line exsists into Marsh Barton although is disused. Scrap metal trains were the last use of the current stub but these finished years ago. Sainsburys is in the way and large parts of the route are taken up by the A38, especially just after Heathfield.

Just as a wider observation, isn't there a certain irony here?

Many disused canals were bought up by railway companies, in the late nineteenth century, so they could run railway tracks along them.

In the late twentieth century, many disused railway tracks were bought up - so tarmac could be layed on them.

And now we have a myriad of campaigns to restore and reopen those canals, and those railway lines - when it's too late??

 ???

What a pity that the 2nd World war scuppered major improvements to todays slow and sinuous so called main line between Plymouth and Exeter with its 55/60mph line speeds between Newton Abbot and Plymouth,which was then planned in the 1930s.A new line was to  be built around the back of Teignmouth and Dawlish through a 2 mile tunnel under the Halden hills emerging just short of Newton Abbot.The land was bought and fenced off prior to construction starting only to be stopped by the start of the 2nd World war(the land was sold off after the War).Also during the 1930s a further new fast line was surveyed and planned with a minimum 1 mile radius alignment from Newton Abbot bypassing Totnes rejoining the existing line near Marley tunnel at the top of Rattery Bank with hopes of a further new line onward from this point to Plymouth at some future date.
 Such schemes now would no doubt be horrendously expensive so making use of closed rail routes where possible would obviously be much more cost effective.Certainly the existing line between Exeter and Plymouth is shouting out for improvements.
 

During the 1950's the journey times from Exeter St David's to Plymouth North Road where almost the same for both the Southern Route via Okehampton (skirting the North Side of Dartmoor) and the Western Route via Newton Abbot (that Skirts the south side of Dartmoor).
Whilst it took a few minutes longer to go via Okehampton it must be remembered that the southern line was a few miles longer, so average speeds were very similar.

If rebuilt the Old Southern Route could be brought up to a higher standard than before with increased line speeds and curves relaxed.

But the DafT spend that sort of money on Railways, DREAM ON!!

Thanks, smokey - but you're starting to lose me here!

The Southern route went to the north of Dartmoor - but the Western route was to the south of Dartmoor?

 :P ::) ;D

Knocking down a Sainsbury's could be considered environmentally friendly less large lorries and food miles.

Turning the A38 back into a railway may be the way to go.

With electrification provided the line is fairly staright gradients don't matter the French LGV Sud has gradients steeper then Dainton (West of Newton Abbot) with no effect on train performance. Although the 37s shipped over to work construction trains struggled.

Yes, the TGVs go so fast, they can just go over hills and down, without tunnels.

Estimates from Chris Turney, a geologist, archaeologist and climatologist at the University of Exeter, back up calls for a rethink on coastal railways (link below.)
http://thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232510&home=yes&more_nodeId1=232470&contentPK=20536950

Interesting BBC article link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7474951.stm