The Peninsula Rail Strategy sets out how rail will underpin the South West’s future economic growth while also supporting the region’s climate goals.

You can access the strategy here:

• Peninsula Rail Strategy Executive Summary
• Peninsula Rail Strategy (full report)

Context

The strategy comes at a time of major change for the South West’s railways. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, travel patterns have shifted: commuting by train has fallen due to increased home and remote working, while more passengers now use the network for leisure trips and holidays. Added pressures from the cost of living crisis and national rail strikes have created further challenges for the system.

The strategy builds on Closing the Gap (2016), the plan developed by the Peninsula Rail Task Force (PRTF), which secured cross-industry support for vital resilience upgrades to the mainline between Exeter and Newton Abbot after the Dawlish sea wall collapse in 2014. While progress has been made, many issues identified in that plan remain unresolved — alongside new challenges.

Five Priority Themes

The strategy focuses on five key priorities:

• Improving choice – making rail the natural option for passengers and freight, with quicker, simpler, and more affordable journeys.

• Reducing emissions – encouraging modal shift from road to rail for both people and goods.

• Supporting demographic change – improving accessibility and expanding the network to serve growing communities.

• A resilient network – addressing vulnerabilities and mitigating risks of disruption.

• Underpinning growth – strengthening rail links to make the region’s towns and cities more accessible.

Closing the gap – Strategic Rail Blueprint

‘Closing the Gap’ is the Peninsula Rail Task Force’s (PRTF) plan for investment into the South West peninsula’s strategic rail network. The plan was officially launched to Government on 22^nd November 2016.

The plan defines the task force’s ambition of a 21st century rail network underpinned by three priorities:

• Resilience and reliability
• Faster journey times
• Improved connectivity with sufficient capacity

After carrying out extensive research and study with the rail industry, ‘Closing the Gap’ sets out a long term cascade of improvements needed to close the growing gap between the South West and the rest of the UK in terms of rail funding and improvements. Investment is expected to deliver over £8.4 billion in economic benefits over the next 20 years.

The task force has also produced an appendix to the report that lists in more detail the outputs from the studies. It also has additional information to support the recommendations made within ‘Closing the Gap’. The following work stream studies are also available:

• PRTF: Northern Route Workstream Assessment of Scheme Costs and Benefits
• Dawlish Additional Line – Assessment
• Heart of the South West Study Economic – Appraisal of rail network upgrade proposals
• Business survey results

The Peninsula Rail Task Force (PRTF) is the strategic rail sub-group of Peninsula Transport. It makes recommendations on rail priorities for the peninsula through its work with the rail industry.