Transport for London settlement letter (pdf)

2020-11-01 Government bailout to keep London transport running (Department for Transport)

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date 9 January 2004
source Strategic Rail Authority
type Press release

During a visit to the South West today, Chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority Richard Bowker, visited the recently opened Penzance interchange before joining Cornwall County Councillors and officials from the Government Office for the South West to take a look at the works which have just started on the Great Western Mainline to double track the railway between Probus and Burngullow, near St Austell in Cornwall.

Richard Bowker said, "This project will bring real benefits to passengers. Probus-Burngullow, along with the new Swindon Platform 4, and investment at Filton Abbey Wood near Bristol, proves that the rail industry can work together, making investment and improvements across the west of England for passengers."

Background

Currently, the single track between Probus and Burngullow is the most limiting constraint on the Cornish main line in terms of timetable flexibility and performance impact with trains often waiting for others to clear the 'bottleneck'.

Reinstatement of 7.5 miles of dual track on the line between Plymouth and Penzance will alleviate this problem.

£14.3 million project funded by a partnership between the SRA, Cornwall County Council, Government Office for the South West, and the Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is underway.

Network Rail are managing this enhancement project and have appointed Amey Rail Ltd to undertake the work.

Benefits

Completion of these works is expected to result in improvements to punctuality and reliability, as well as potentially improving average journey times and providing capacity for future growth.

These works also have the potential to benefit punctuality over the whole of the Great Western Mainline to Paddington, and on the important cross country route to Bristol and Birmingham.

Robert Hichens, Cornwall County Council's Executive Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, said: "We are pleased to welcome Richard Bowker to Cornwall, and to the Probus Burngullow project.

Restoring the original dual line to the existing rail bed will improve mainline services, helping to draw inward investment into Cornwall and build investor confidence.

Alan Wilson, Managing Director of Wessex Trains said " We welcome the investment in infrastructure which will deliver opportunities for real improvements to local services.

Chris Kinchin-Smith, Managing Director of First Great Western said "This work, in conjunction with our restructured timetable this December, will make a huge difference for First Great Western customers, in some cases cutting journey times from London by 20 minutes.

It's one of three projects championed by the cross-industry Great Western Joint Board, it will allow us to timetable more effectively and recover from disruption better.

Our commitment to Cornwall is the provision of the reliable service that passengers deserve.

Note to Editors

1. The total investment in this scheme of £14.3m comprises of £11.3 million granted by the SRA and £3 million of funding from the Objective One European Regional Development Fund. This was applied for by Cornwall County Council and awarded through the Government Office for the South West.
2. The scheme has the potential to generate 8.6m additional passenger miles over a 30-year period, and 283,000 additional passenger journeys.
3. Network Rail appointed Amey Rail Ltd to complete the re-doubling work at Probus-Burngullow on 11 December 2003. The project, which is being managed by Network Rail, will be completed by the end of 2004.
4. Train Operating Companies using the route includes First Great Western, Wessex Trains, Virgin Cross Country, Arriva Trains Wales and freight operator EWS. There are an average of 24 trains operating in each direction between Truro and St Austell each weekday.

Railhub Archive ::: 2004-01-09 SRA-001