Dawlish rail survey

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Plymouth Herald

Dawlish rail survey suggests support for upgrading existing line to Plymouth

AN academic study into Plymouth's rail link suggests overwhelming support for a revamped line - but one that still serves flood-risk Dawlish.

King's College London Geography student Emily Ward is carrying out a study on the South West Mainline Railway at Dawlish.

She is asking for people's experiences and opinions about coastal flooding and the railway for her undergraduate dissertation.

Emily said her preliminary finds showed that 70 per cent of people feared climate change would put Dawlish in further danger, while the same number said the railway was not adequately adapted to cope with coastal flooding.

Less than half said the 2014 storms which washed the line into the sea had changed their opinions about the line, which has been closed by flooding several times in recent years.

Two thirds of those to respond so far say the modification of the railway is the most urgent issue facing Dawlish, over traffic and tourism issues.

Meanwhile, 69 per cent said re-routing the railway away from Dawlish and closing the current line is "not an apropriate option at any point in the future".

[snip]

The online questionnaire, which is anonymous and takes around 10-15 minutes to complete, is still open.

To contribute, visit http://goo.gl/forms/V9eDhZMFqq.

I took the survey.

Here's a crux question



Now I consider a key reason for the line is to let rail passengers - including commuters and people on business reach Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall by train - but I can't see that option ...

Edit to fix quoting

[Chris from Nailsea]

To be fair, there is an option to contact the researcher (or her supervisor) directly with such concerns:

For further information, additional comments or wish to withdraw from this study please contact [redacted] (researcher). If you have concerns about the conduct of this research please contact my supervisor, Frans Berkhout: [redacted].