[paul mercer]

Re the collapse of the Dawlish line last winter there have been many sugggestions re the various options put forward by Network Rail. The one I have long supported is the reopening of the old Southern line through Okehampton and Tavistock as most of the trackbed is still intact and the costs quoted by Network Rail were considerably cheaper than boring new tunnels under South Devon (which would only save around 6 mins) and it is interesting to note that the Transport Minister went by special train to Okehampton station last week. There has been a lot of talk from people in Plymouth wanting a faster service to London as well as having the GW route electrified (which has been ready dismissed) presumably because electrics and salt water don't mix very well, whereas the Southern route would have no such restrictions if it was decided to electrify that. It seems to me that the route between Exeter and Plymouth does not lend itself to fast running, let alone at 125mph. I believe the average not stop time is around 55 minutes for an HST, a time almost matched by 6024 King Edward 1 in 2002 at 58 mins 6 secs so it would seem that any extra time saving in the future is going to be east of Exeter which may be electrified one day. As I live near Tavistock I have been encouraged by the support for the reopening, but I do have my suspicions that the Government are going to declare that they will only patch up the line at Dawlish and quietly forget that they said anything about looking at alternative options!
What to Forum members think?