Restoring your Railway - The lessons from Okehampton
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- čas přidán 28. 12. 2022
- A joint presentation by Christian Irwin, Industry Programme Director for the South West, Network Rail and Matt Barnes, Head of Strategic Services Development, GWR given at the Modern Railways Fourth Friday Club 'Rail in Wales and the West' conference held in Cardiff on 25 March 2022. Our thanks to Modern Railways / Key Publishing for allowing us to use the video.
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It has been a marvellous achievement in bringing back the railway to Okehampton, but what of the future, as Stevie mentions, what about returning railways to communities who lost their services back in the 1960’s, such as restoring the railway from Okehampton to Tavistock, I’m sure the people would be glad to have their trains back again.
Railway closures started long before the 1960s. The Beeching report was not the start of railway closures but a speeding up of an existing process. It depends whether you want to reopen a closed railway railway because of some romantic notion to put right a wrong or to solve the problem of global warming, Road congestion and our love affair with the car. Reopening a railway is a really expensive exercise and you are not going to achieve that many of them. A major investment in trams and buses with cheap fares may be a better solution but there are so many people out there who are really fussy about buses and the only way to tempt them out of their cars is by reinstating a train service. Look at the cost and timescales for reinstating Oxford to Cambridge line and you then question whether it’s VFM to do the same with Oxford to Witney line.
@@andrewlong6438 A Strategic Outline Business Case for the new Windrush Line (Oxford - Eynsham / Salt Cross garden village - Witney - Carterton) has recently been commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council. It and any subsequent assessments will inform the VFM and other issues. There are already c.50k people in that A40 corridor beyond 5km of rail access.
@@roglaker9353 The Witney Line originally terminated at Fairford though the intention was to join the Cirenchester Line is the Trackbed to Carterton still intact even on to Fairford and may be someday to Cirenchester but when the Local Proprietors found it difficult to make a profit the GWR who were running the line for 50% of the takings stepped in with a nominal share purchase offer (One of many they did to expand their empire) even they found it hard to make a worthy profit.
Very happy to see this over here in the USA, we can definitely learn from you successful project over on this side of the pond.
Very interesting and a great testimony to all those involved that the project was delivered early and under budget.
Achievements like this need to be celebrated as we appear to be a nation that wants projects (sadly) to fail.
Now you have shown what can be done this needs to filter down from projects/program level to the day to day running of a railway.
I see a number of parallels between this and the borders railway .... put the infrustruction in in the right place and the rest will follow.
Having visited Okehampton in the 1990's to see the station in its time-warp Southern Region condition and again in the 2000's once it had been given a fresh lick of paint, I've been fascinated by it. So I travelled on the line twice in 2022, once before the line was closed for a fortnight of further engineering works in late spring to enable the faster hourly service from Exeter and again after these works had taken place, which made for faster running. I myself was encouraged how much interest this line has generated. I also travelled on the link bus to Tavistock, though I hasten to add, most of the passengers got on the bus after Okehampton station! This of course begs the question when are they going to reopen the line to Tavistock, that will generate a lot more interest to the people living Devon and also relay the track from Coleford Junction to Crediton, which is in an awful state and will speed up the line speed even further to Okehampton. One imagines the Governments 'Restore your Railway, will be for the chop, so it can save money, plus the current rail union strikes are doing nothing to enhance further investment in the railways.
The Government's promises about extra money will never be honoured
Congratulations you now have the same trains an hour that connects Rotherham and Doncaster (serving upto 500,000 people) - if they run, AND all the advantages of 'joined up thinking' buses instead of 'De-Regulation' full competition. Wonder which party thought up that model?
It's excellent to see this line open, and hopefully it'll push through to Tavistock and Bere Alston in the coming years.
However, it gives such an insight as to why railway projects are normally such a disaster in the UK. With this scheme, time was limited, so the options to prevaricate and waste time on non-issues simply wasn't there. Some of it - buying land for door mice - is the modern nonsense evironmentalism by townies who think mice live in houses and need to be re-housed when a line ploughs through their housing estate. Also the reference to more land being bought than the area of Okehampton is ridiculous!
This was re-opening an abandoned freight route. The track had to be ripped up and re-laid - that's accepted. However, that's tantamount to major maintenance and all the crowing about partnership and whatnot is the new public sector speak for a few departments doing their jobs.
Sincerely, well done for getting it up, but the insight into the inner mentality of the rail industry is shocking, and explains how HS2 is descending into farce.
I agree,Peter.
Congratulations to Oakhampton and now another 20 year wait for the connection to Bere Regis to allow a Plymouth service
I really want the old carlisle to silloth line reopened
join the movement, return the much beloved pacers #blovedpacers
I am thrilled this line is successful .. What we need is the whole line all the way to Plymouth Linking Tavistock and Bere Alston. A station at Lydford for Lifton and for the National trust + Launceston, reconnecting Bude.
Without this west Devon will still be a sleepy hollow
@chrisgooding4395 - And don't forget the Bideford re-opening campaign: www.bidefordrailway.co.uk/ace-rail/ - and more generally www.railfuture.org.uk/Devon-and-Cornwall-Reopenings
and the good news keeps on coming: "In Devon, there will be £13.5 million for a new railway station on the eastern edge of Okehampton - the West Devon Transport Hub - complete with high quality cycle facilities and EV charging points on site to better connect communities and promote active travel." Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities news story, 18 January 2023.
While this has been a great achievement and I look forward to travelling on the line next time I'm in Devon, I wonder whether you'll not have either booking offices or a second member of staff on a train as Mr Shapps advocates for the network as a whole?
Unfortunately booking office staff will mostly go the way of banks and post offices in the High Street simply because fewer people use them and because there is now a better way of making the transactions. I am an avid supporter of the railways and a very regular leisure traveller but have never used a booking office in years and the overall majority of stations have never had a booking office since the 1960's. I am old enough to recall when they were first being phased out post-Beeching and Pay Trains were introduced on rural routes where stations had been de-staffed, so the proposal is nothing new. For years now I have purchased all my tickets online because its convenient, you can see the range of prices for the various times of travel and you can steer your journey through different routes to get the best deal when using split tickets. You cannot do any of this at a booking office window or when buying on the train, you have to take what is offered. As for a second member of staff on the train I assume you mean someone who will operate the doors? Why this is such a big issue for RMT when on 50% of the network the driver already operates the doors, certainly on all underground trains and the DLR has been driver-less from day one, baffles me as personally I don't see it as being a 'safety-critical' issue. I am old enough to remember the old slam-door trains when it was almost the passengers' responsibility to close the doors with the Guard there just to check, a task that is so obviously no longer necessary. There is still going to be mostly a second person on board checking tickets etc. who will have some train management responsibilities so I don't recognise a valid argument on this point. I have witnessed on many occasions this second person rushing off to operate the doors, leaving ticket sales and inspections and never reaching some passengers before they alight so revenue protection must inevitably suffer because of this. I have some sympathy for staff in their quest for a better pay increase than that which has been offered so far, but I rather think that they have have chosen to die on too many hills and just like bank and Post Office staff they cannot halt advances in technology and changes in the way transactions take place. I personally do not believe it should be the role of any union to try and save every current job, they can't and never have been able to in any industry in the past, because it eventually puts all jobs at risk and they are then fighting a political battle in the industrial arena. It should be the role of a union to achieve the best possible deal from the resources that may be available so a little more pro-action and a little less reaction in the collective mentality of some unions would not go amiss, IMO.
@@chriscrew6541 At my local station, replete with ticket issuing machines and where you can collect on-line booked tickets there is always a queue for the booking office. So there is a demand in leafy Berkshire, particularly amongst the older age groups. And, having been on late night trains out of Reading where the drunken behaviour is a threat to passengers, the absence of a guard is a safety issue. All that Great Western can offer is pleas from the driver over the loudspeaker to "please be considerate to other passengers". The railways are there to meet the public's needs, but the priorities are rather different.
@@MrDavil43 I don't think anyone is suggesting that there will not be tickets and information available at major railway stations and termini just that staff may have to be deployed more efficiently than some are now. Most ticket offices at lesser stations in my area in the East Midlands are closed most of the time in any event and have ticket machines in my experience. It would somewhat patronising to suggest that those of my age group, i.e. 70+, and of average intelligence cannot cope with, or do not want, the introduction of new technology. I would suggest those that do reject new technology are a fast diminishing cohort in any event. I have no idea what the behaviour is on trains in the Berkshire area but whatever it happens to be on-board train staff are not security guards and could not deal with violence or unruly behaviour especially if they are at the rear of a train operating doors. The point I was trying to make was that it is the responsibility of management in any business or industry to try to anticipate future trends and plan accordingly. Similarly, the unions would surely be serving their members' interests more productively if they did likewise instead of pretending they can preserve every outmoded task and protect every job in perpetuity, or at least they give the very strong impression that is what they are trying to do. By negotiating redeployment, retraining or generous redundancy packages where this is not possible or un-acceptable to an individual member would surely be better than losing their membership thousands of pounds in lost earnings through what could prove ultimately to be futile industrial action.
@@chriscrew6541 I really do wish people would avoid statements like "the overall majority of stations have never had a booking office since the 1960s". In _your_ area maybe! Hard to take seriously a comment with a ridiculous assertion like that. I live a 20-minute train journey from London Cannon St and commuted for 20+ years into central London. (I work locally now.) I can assure you that my local stations still have people buying tickets from the person at the ticket window whenever I pass through. We use a mix of online - where appropriate - and in-person booking, depending on the type of journey. Generalisations - inaccurate ones - are so unhelpful. I find our local station staff very helpful with information and discounts etc - we have often come away with better deals than expected. BTW I am perfectly good at buying tickets and comparing prices online - it's a case of horses for courses.
@@sarac.3259 I hardly think it's a ridiculous statement because it is a hard fact that the majority of country's stations have been un-staffed for many years and I think where there is a business case to be made for a booking office to be kept open, then it will not close. London may be the centre of your world but it's not the whole country and I know, whatever people down in the south east think about their rail service, from further north it looks excellent. The nearest station to me (7-miles away and no bus services to get there either) has a train in each direction once every two hours, and we only just got a ticket machine installed before Christmas, you either booked online or paid on the train if the conductor ever got to you in time. This is the reality for many of us who live north of Watford, who for forty years also had to endure the appalling Pacer trains which were the railway equivalent of the Sinclair C5!
Wonderful video about this inspiring project. I've seen there are one or two comments criticising the amount of 'Management-speak' - maybe among all the partnerships there should be someone from the Plain English association - but overall, the great success of the project does say that you have got a whole lot right, and it is tremendous that people can now travel to Okehampton and Dartmoor by rail.
A couple of points: first a bit pedantic, but were the out-turn results 240% of what you forecast? - or were they 240% more than forecast (i.e. 340% of forecast) - I think that could have been said a bit more clearly. Either way, it is a great result.
Secondly, this venture shows up a dramatic failure by the privatised bus industry. You mention that west of Okehampton is an area not connected to the rail network, and poorly served by public transport generally. Why? - There are roads ... If First, Stagecoach etc. had set up a network of fast, rail-quality bus routes connecting Okehampton and the station at Crediton (amongst other places) with through-ticketing and reliable, comprehensive connections, with good signage (as in the London tube), would there have been the urgency and popular support for re-opening the rail route. Actually the new rail service is really excellent, but it could have ended up being Pacers every two hours. But the bus companies have never seemed to be able to value properly the idea of integrated public transport: even when the buses and trains in an area are part of the same big group, the bus people and train people appear to live in separate silos and not communicate with each other.
Okehampton- Tavistock - Bere Alston next??
Tavistock-Bere Alston-Plymouth is next. Then Barnstaple-Bideford.
What about Sampford Courtenay, are there any plans to re-open it in the future?
Our friends at www.bidefordrailway.co.uk/ace-rail/ may well have the answer to that one.
So did he show up to the meeting with a folder full of telephone pages?
Don’t really understand this overview my wife and I, boarded a DMU on a journey from Okehampton to Exetor return in 2018? Bill s
Back in 2018 there was a special service of 4 trains on summer Sundays only, funded by Devon County Council. The new service runs hourly 7 days a week all year round. A significant amount of work had to be done on the track to allow services to run faster, and so become a viable option for travelling from the area around Okehampton to Exeter.
It was a no brainier and the parsonage shows that just like the Waverley route 👍🏻 But don’t just stop at Okehampton likd the Waverley route has 🙄 More railways need reinstating as the cost of fossil fuel’s rise and are roads are full. I see it every day on the M6 😫
Great to see the line upgraded and in full passenger operation again, but the management bullsh1t in this promo video was sickening, haven't heard the like since I retired several years ago after more than 4 decades in industry where we used to play a game of bullsh1t bingo during management Comm's.
Why the bus link? This railway line used to run all the way to Plymouth when built buy the LSWR, didn't sell off the infrastructure did you per chance?
Yep; management these days is full of BS and self-promo. One can't do anything but laugh at these bull-shippers. Australia built a line across virgin territory for a fraction of the cost per mile. (btw look up 'w*nkword bingo)
What is wrong with a bus link ? Are you a bus snob ?
I think Stevie B is missing important points here. Firstly this isn't a "promo video" but a description of the brief history of what has happened from getting funding to end of year 1. It would only be "bullshit" if, despite the corporate management language, the facts given were incorrect. There' is no evidence to suggest this is the case here. Over 200% usage and £10m under budget is something to celebrate; a good news rail story which rarely makes the national media. As to the potshot about extending to Plymouth. These guys are the wrong target. Their remit was to deliver what is there now. Funding etc comes from the treasury and Department of Transport so if, be Stevie B, you feel strongly about that (I agree it should be) then start making your MP's life a misery over this instead of negative potshots at a success in plain sight. I know corporate bullshit when I hear it vI worked in the insurance industry for over 40 years and I have heard plenty of it from management a nd directors in that industry. The difference is they were predicting things in the future or covering up for a failed strategy not extolling a clear success as with the Okehampton reopening. I am sure the trade unions have done their very best to kill off the passenger numbers. The one disappointing thing for me is the £10 m under budget goes, presumably, back to the treasury. There is talk of as 2ne station at Okehampton as a parkway to get more car users onto the trains. The under budget should have been available to start work on this immediately. But that's our government as nd civ in l servants for me you
Apologies for the errors in my last post. I am not semi literate but possess fat fingers not designed for phone keyboards.
@@geoffj5241 😄
I am sorry to say so, but the opening speaker is being SO disingenuous. This is such political spin. He is claiming to have reopened a railway that was closed 49 years ago. Then emphasising that just 7 months after announcing funding, the railway opened to passengers for the first time in 49 years. This is simply NOT TRUE. The railway was not closed, it was maintained for freight purposes, also used and the maintenance of facilities contributed to by the volunteers of the Dartmoor Railway Association throughout that time, and yes, they carried passengers. Not on commuter trains, but their determination to run some trains and carry some passengers helped to keep the line open, the infrastructure in place and the stations in usable condition.
As a result of that, the project Network Rail had to undertake to reopen this was nothing like the achievement that is trumpeted in this hyperbolic opening speech.
The engineers and technicians of Network Rail did great work in upgrading the infrastructure, and credit to them for doing so. Of course the modern technology for track relaying is impressive - although it was the fact that track was already there, albeit worn out, that made it possible to use that relaying technology. But don't claim that this was a "closed" railway that "hadn't seen passengers for 49 years". Had they achieved this on a trackbed that had been truly closed and abandoned, with the inevitable missing bridges, embankments and stations, it would have been an impressive feat. The real truth is, that as a result of the local community that worked so hard for so many years to maintain things, the project that Network Rail had to undertake to reopen this line was nothing like the achievement that is trumpeted in this hyperbolic opening speech. A clear case of Network Rail trying to convince us of "their truth" and hide the real facts. The real heroes of the hour, that should be congratulated loudly, are the local community and DRA volunteers that kept this line together for years and maintained local interest in the railway, so that Network Rail had such an easy job to do to reopen it. It is conspicuous that ALL of the speakers in this presentation avoided praising their efforts.
Of course the people of Okehampton must be very happy. But where can this be done next, in spite of all the lessons learned? This project was VERY low hanging fruit for the Government's "Reopening your Railway" flagship, which in the end was only ever a sop to deceive voters outside London into thinking that the Government are interested in their local transport needs. Anything more difficult than reopening a railway that somebody else has maintained for 49 years has not been tackled!
I'm all for improving rail connectivity but the way this has been sold politically, the glory claimed by Network Rail, and the dismissal of those volunteers who really made it possible, makes me feel quite sick.
Marion
Rubbish slides. You can either listen to what is being said or try to take in everything on the slides, but not both.
There is such a thing as pausing the video.