Rail resilience isn't just a North Devon problem, says Railfuture branch chair
The South West Rail Resilience Programme, aimed at future-proofing Devon and Cornwall's rail network, is facing a funding delay, with Network Rail requiring central government to supply the funds to complete phase 5.
Tim Steer, chair of Railfuture's Devon and Cornwall branch and based in North Devon, reflects on how weather-related rail disruption isn't just a North Devon problem, and what it means for the whole region's rail network.
Weather-related rail resilience isn't just a challenge for Northern Devon. For South Devon, their main line that links Exeter to Plymouth and the whole of Cornwall was hit by heavy storms in 2014, and many of us saw the pictures of a rail line suspended in mid-air along the Dawlish coast.
Thankfully, Network Rail managed to work on a funding package to make the Dawlish sea wall much more robust against storms, and their team have managed to complete phases 1-4 out of 5 to deliver the South West Rail Resilience Programme.
Some may debate that a new inland route through Heathfield or across Okehampton to Tavistock could be a secondary route; however, Network Rail are insistent that their work along the South Devon Main Line has proved to be weather-resilient. They now require central government to supply the funds to complete phase 5.
Down in Looe, Cornwall, their line was ironically a canal over a century ago, and after the December storms, that line was underwater for months.
What this is telling us is that the whole of Devon and Cornwall's rail network’s weather resilience needs to have a central government funding package to future-proof our vital rail services—this includes having trains that can handle the extreme heat.
Extreme weather is not going away, and it is causing a variety of challenges to Network Rail and the operators. Will the railways of the South West one day get the same investment that we are now seeing going to the North?