THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Growing the regional economy through better connectivity

Chris LoderHead of Business Projects

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Our Network in the Westcountry

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Our network

• Inter-regional hourly service on West of England line• 3 and 6 car class 159 operation (best performing diesel fleet

in the UK)• Heavily constrained by single line infrastructure• 4 trains a day to Waterloo/Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads• West of England has 2 main purposes:

– Inter-regional/local– Connecting East Devon, South Somerset, West/North Dorset and South

Wiltshire with London

• Increasingly important - diversionary resilience

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Rail strategies fueling the economy• Where these are working best

– West of England Partnership (MetroWest)– Devon County Council (Devon Metro)

• Emerging– South West Peninsula Rail Task Force– Wiltshire

• Still to come– Somerset/Dorset– South Somerset/Devon– Dorset/Devon

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Yeovil/South Somerset case study• Additional 7,400 dwellings and 50 hectares of employment

land in the next 12 years in Yeovil alone

• Additional 7,400 dwellings elsewhere in South Somerset with 100 hectares of employment land

• Main A roads - almost all will have significant upgrade work in the coming years

• A303 widening/tunnelling will be a major disruption but also a major opportunity for the railways

• No rail connection between the 2 lines despite infrastructure being available

• Local traffic congestion is considerable

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Connections that should be easier• Yeovil to Taunton (A358)• Crewkerne to Yeovil Pen Mill (A30)• Crewkerne to Castle Cary (A303)• Weymouth/Dorchester to Axminster/Exeter

(A35)• Gillingham to Dorchester (A354)• Sherborne to Dorchester/Weymouth

(A37/A352)

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Our December 2015 proposal

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

West of England Connectivity proposal for December 2015• Half-hourly service to Yeovil between 12:20 & 19:20 (except

for 14:50)• 3 additional trains from Yeovil to London• Connecting Yeovil Junction and Yeovil Pen Mill 17 times a day• 2 direct trains per day in each direction Bruton and Frome to

London• Direct service from Yeovil Pen Mill to Exeter• 2 trains per hour to Cranbrook and Honiton in the Exeter

evening peak (16:00-18:00)• Offering a number of new journey opportunities in the area

THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Questions