General Discussion
Railway Line at South Devon
In reply to a question Ann Morris(Consertive MP for Newton Abbot), David Cameron replied that the whole of the railway line will be repaired between through her constinuancy Including Dawlish And Teignmouth and the Transport Secretary will be visiting the area soon.
From Hansard 20th March 2013
Q15. [148847] Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) (Con): Traveller numbers on the coastal railway line running through my constituency are growing fast. Given its importance to local tourism in Dawlish and Teignmouth, can the Prime Minister assure me that urgent investment plans are in hand to repair recent flood damage and to create a long-term sustainable future for this railway line?
The Prime Minister: I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I know that the Transport Secretary will shortly be visiting her constituency. Investment is going into the whole of the line that serves her constituency, including major investment that will shortly be completed at Reading station, which will help capacity all down the line.
@Lynne.That is what I said basically, but the flooding took place at Cowley Bridge which is in a totally different constituency. I don`t know if there was any flooding at Dawlish,you may know different. At Reading, the trains over easter will leave London Waterloo because of the major engineering works at Reading.
Cowley Bridge I believe is in the Exeter constituency.
We didn't have flooding on the line here but there were landslips onto the line between Dawlish and Teignmouth.
What are the major engineering works taking place at Reading and how will they improve the service to/from down here? Do you know?
The Engineering works can be found on the FGW Website but basically It`s making It a better/bigger station.The platflorms 4/5 are returning so nobody will be confused.And apparently,I am getting this from the website, there are going to be 100 Visual Display Units at Reading.After Easter, trains return to London Paddington,but the works continue on a much smaller scale. I will be down to Basingstoke to see the HST from March 29th.2013. I know about the Landslides between Dawlish and Teignmouth.
Believe they've been dropped publicly (but I do wonder if are there any non public contingency plans for an inland route for sometime in the future. Rising sea levels, 'n all that.)
@Fred Bassett. First I`ve heard of It. Would be very costly I think. I thought that there would be work at Dawlish Warren.Somebody else might know different.
With todays rules and regulations unless Network Rail continue to pump 10s of thousands of pounds into maintaining this stretch of line, which is already the most expensive on the network, it is only a matter of time before it becomes unfit for purpose.
Rather than allowing our green fields to be sold off to greedy housing developers perhaps the planners need to start thinking about allocating a stretch of land ready for moving the line inland and along side the railway a replacement for the existing A379 which when all the houses planned for are built will also be unfit for purpose.
Imagine the re-generation oppertunities for Starcross, Dawlish Warren and Dawlish Town once the sea front restrictions are lifted, by removing the railway
Imagine also the effect of the rail track along the sea wall not being maintained, In a very short space of time the wall would break up leading to major flooding and cliff erosion with all the consequences.
I think the powers that be realise this and would be prepared to stand the cost of maintaining as is in lieu of the cost of loss of property. Also the cost of moving the line inland has been put at 100 billion plus. So I think the line will stay as is for some time to come.