Closing the gap The South West Peninsula strategic rail blueprint November 2016 For the South West, investment into the rail with other areas. Links to Bristol, Birmingham • Invest £1.5bn to reduce journey times by up to The UK’s record of investment into infrastructure network will unlock a host of benefits, generating and London, as well as other travel hubs such as 14 minutes to Penzance, through infrastructure is mixed; in the South West we strongly believe an additional £7.2bn of GVA and £1.8bn of transport Heathrow, Gatwick and Southampton are vital, as improvements, partial electrification and a new approach is needed. Other countries are benefits in the coming years, transforming the are our interregional provision. The report clearly franchise renewals using different ways to invest and deliver their economy and our communities. With passenger calls for reliable and high quality services, accessible infrastructure, successfully: on time and on budget. • Invest £150m reducing journey times and growth at 128%, we consistently outstrip industry to all, enabling passengers to work and travel in We want to work with Government, Network Rail, increasing core capacity on the Exeter –Waterloo forecasts and our potential is growing. 75% of SW comfort. train operating companies and private sector line businesses stated that rail is vital to their business Since the initial report, we have undertaken partners to explore new avenues and bring benefits and that reducing the journey time to London by 45 • Invest £358m to improve capacity and comfort extensive studies with partners Network Rail, the to the South West as soon as possible. minutes would have a significant positive impact on through new rolling stock, infrastructure Department for Transport, Great Western Railway Our message to Government is plain: there must be their productivity. enhancements and phased opening of the and the University of Plymouth to look at ways to real enhancements to our rail network, improving Northern Route Since the severe weather incidents of 2014 when the achieve our aims. existing provision. Reduced services, loss of line was severed at Dawlish, and floods engulfed the • Increase frequency to 2 trains an hour west of connections and slower trains are unacceptable. Our immediate priorities to 2019 are: Somerset Levels, the South West has been working Exeter to Bristol and the Midlands Whilst our rail network cannot be transformed • Invest £284m in resilience, including hard to develop a strategic plan for our rail network. We want to realise our true economic potential and overnight, we must tackle the decades of commencing the securing of the main rail line Starting with the formation of the Peninsula Rail contribute to UK PLC. With exceptional opportunities underinvestment, we must start now and we must through Dawlish and Teignmouth Task Force – a partnership of local authorities, such as Hinkley, world-class aerospace, nuclear and hold true to that course in the years to come. LEPs and stakeholders, it has gone on to work with • Completion of committed flood relief schemes marine industries, outstanding natural assets such South West MPs to respond to a commission by as the North Cornwall and Jurassic Coasts, UNESCO PRTF Chair • Introduce trains capable of operating along the Government for a plan. This is the result: ‘Closing Global Geopark and national parks, we have Councillor seawall in all weathers the gap’, our blueprint for rail. significant prospects to exploit. As investments into Andrew Leadbetter • Invest £2.5m in GRIP 3 options for the Our plan is not a quick fix, a long term view is other areas are realised, such as Crossrail and HS2, diversionary route East of Exeter required. The South West has lost out because the gap between the South West and the rest of the of poor transport investment for over 20 years, • Invest £22m in GRIP 3 options for reducing UK will become more pronounced. But we strongly averaging £35/head compared to a national average journey times believe that new infrastructure can, and will, redress this imbalance. of £98/head – leaving our region some £2bn behind • Increase frequency to 2 direct trains an hour other areas. Our regional rolling stock is the oldest, from Plymouth to London in the new franchise, dating back to the late 1970s. The Met Office reducing journey times by up to 10 minutes, says climate change incidents will become more whilst at least maintaining existing services RAIL FOR BUSINESS Survey frequent, and with Network Rail warning that the Important for • Work with the rail industry to maximise 80% line at Dawlish will suffer closure every four years by business travel 75% value links to the benefits of the new trains from Dec 2018 2065, the South West remains more vulnerable than Used by staff for NORTH 60% and invest £25m to make our journeys more business travel MIDLANDS value links to many parts of the UK. Our economy depends on 87% BRISTOL INTERNATIONAL good connectivity, but unlike other areas, we do not productive through on board travelling office, Used by AIRPORTS have a good network to start with. media and mobile/Wi-Fi connectivity. suppliers 53% Over the medium term to 2029, we are focused on Used by staff for commuting Our initial priorities of greater resilience, faster continuing investment: 36% Y value91% links to IT journey times and more capacity and connectivity IV • Invest £301m to complete Dawlish seawall CT LONDON remain. Our last report, ‘On Track’, set out the 69% NE SOUTH EAST and cliffs resilience, the diversionary route value links CON importance of maintaining the iconic mainline within the between Exeter and Castle Cary and estuary flood through Dawlish, creating real journey time savings protection and greater capacity, as well as increasing the SW Produced by the GeoMapping Unit, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University opportunities for communities to interconnect SURVEY NETWORK JOURNEY TIME IMPROVED PRIORITIES 47% RESILIENCE 43% REDUCTIONS 10% CAPACITY 2 PENNINSULA RAIL TASK FORCE PENNINSULA RAIL TASK FORCE 3 CLOSING THE GAP - THE SOUTH WEST PENINSULA STRATEGIC RAIL BLUEPRINT CLOSING THE GAP - THE SOUTH WEST PENINSULA STRATEGIC RAIL BLUEPRINT Endorsements Our economy Cornwall Devon Plymouth Somerset Torbay “I congratulate all those involved in SOUTH WEST compiling this 20 year plan which Our economy has many strengths but WORKPLACE GVA it cannot realise its full potential due to when implemented will see increasing SALARIES UK £24,600 constraints on connectivity. benefits brought to our region. I now South West average £22,300 call upon government to deliver and The South West is perceived to be BELOW distant from centres of commerce as a Devon £20,150 ensure that the South West has a rail NATIONAL service fit for the 21st century.” result of journey times, deterring inward Plymouth £19,900 investment. The economy is further AVERAGE Somerset £18,381 Gary Streeter restricted by long journey times, an moving 20% Devon population MP for South West Devon equally fragile road network and the west get Cornwall £17,300 dispersed nature of our towns and cities. Torbay £15,500 DO NOT OWN A CAR “Never again” – That is what I hear Greater connectivity would promote more lower from communities across the South employment, more opportunities for 98,000 1.1 million 2.2 million 36 billion West Peninsula when I ask about investment and greater accessibility for businesses jobs population output connectivity from our region. Never investors. again can we be cut off from the rest of the country because of creaking trips by rail for infrastructure and severe storms. TOURISM & aerospace HOSPITALITY This report, which is the culmination of years of hard work 50% by people across the South West, gives a sound and forward- marine thinking blueprint for the next generation of rail travel to the 14.7million manufacturing Peninsula. to London SW The storms of February 2014 forced Government to sit up businesses and listen to what we had been saying for years – that the hi-tech classed as South West has been chronically under-funded for decades, 25.6 million innovative resulting in millions of pounds lost in growth over a 6 week to the SW creative period. Whilst the Government gave the commitment to sort the line out at Dawlish and the Orange Army of Network Rail Photo © Tony Jackson engineers fixed the line, it has taken a united front, speaking REGIONAL SPEND with one voice, to get to this point. PER HEAD 128%passenger This is a serious report, which I know will spark a serious growth in discussion about how we deal with a historical lack of £35 yrs funding into our region. Better connectivity means better, SOUTH higher paying jobs and in turn, greater growth for our region. Last major £97 WEST 21 investment No major It took a shock to the system to reach this point, but I am ENGLAND over last sure that this report will lay the foundations for a golden Paddington timetable improvements generation in connectivity to and from the South West. to Penzance 20 years Paddington to Oliver Colvile Penzance £2,530,000,000 MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, HST for years Chair of the SW Rail All Party Parliamentary Group has not been spent 1976 30 Produced by the GeoMapping Unit, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University 4 PENNINSULA RAIL TASK FORCE PENNINSULA RAIL TASK FORCE 5 CLOSING THE GAP - THE SOUTH WEST PENINSULA STRATEGIC RAIL BLUEPRINT CLOSING THE GAP - THE SOUTH WEST PENINSULA STRATEGIC RAIL BLUEPRINT GLOUCESTERSHIREGLOUCESTERSHIRE HERTFORDSHIREHERTFORDSHIRE Resilience and reliability South west rail infrastructure vulnerability GLOUCESTERSHIRE HERTFORDSHIRE OXFORDSHIREOXFORDSHIRE OXFORDSHIREBUCKINGHAMSHIREBUCKINGHAMSHIRE The Dawlish mainline remains our top priority. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Resilience – the ambition: South South We expect resilient and reliable services that our travellers can depend South Windsor and Windsor and GloucestershireGloucestershire Windsor and GREATER GREATER upon.