I welcome the announcement today that the Government is investing an additional £10 million into the mainline between Exeter and Newton Abbot.
The funding boost will be provided to Network Rail to work on their proposed resilience scheme on the line at Dawlish. At this stage the funding is to enable Network Rail to conduct further research into how best to protect this famous stretch of coastline railway.
This funding is just the start. It comes a week before the Peninsula Rail Task Force (PRTF) publish its long-awaited report into the future of the railway in South Devon, looking at how we ensure it has capacity for the next twenty years and beyond. I will continue to make the case to Government that South West connectivity needs a reliable and resilient rail service linking Devon and Cornwall with London and the rest of the UK, and look forward to the long term plans coming from the PRTF and the work to be conducted by Network Rail.
Photo: © Copyright N Chadwick
