Major improvements for South West railway?

Major rail improvements for the South West - including flood resilience, increased capacity, journey time improvements and an alternative route to the coastal railway between Exeter and Newton Abbot - are moving closer with the publication of the South West Peninsula Rail Task Force (SWPRTF)’s 20-year plan interim report.

The report is the final stage before the definitive 20-year vision for the region is delivered to the Government in summer 2016. Its analysis concludes that regions suffer a decrease of 6% in productivity for every additional 100 minutes’ travel time from London, but that journey time savings as a result of new trains and linespeed improvements could generate £520 million worth of economic benefits to the South West.

• For more on this, read RAIL 786, published on October 28.