Railwatch 075 - April 1998

South West

By Gerard Dudridge

Wenford Bridge Setbacks A letter of conditional support from John Grimshaw of Sustrans for the reopening of the freight line to Wenford Bridge, Cornwall, has been received by RDS. "We support the reopening of this link as a freight route provided that (i) the promoter develops an alternative route for walkers and cyclists along the general corridor of the line and (ii) the sole source of freight, namely China Clay, signs a firm commitment to take out all clay by rail. What we would not support is the loss of a popular railway path without the guarantee of environmental gain." However, the vociferous Camel Trail Preservation Society managed to persuade a High Court Judge to overturn the previous Secretary of State's decision to issue the Light Railway Order. Following the High Court decision, a Full Council meeting of North Cornwall District Council resulted in withdrawal of support for the railway by a majority of two. As the council own the trackbed and were co-applicants for the light railway order the present situation is unclear. This is a setback for Bodmin and Wenford Rail Freight Ltd, English Welsh and Scottish Railway and English China Clay who had even agreed the rates for the traffic. The LRO had been issued despite the inspector of two public inquiries rejecting the scheme and the judgement of Mr Justice Harrison was that the Secretary of State had failed to deal with the inspector's assessment of the scale of reduction in lorry traffic. The calculation of lorry movements is important in this case as one of the objector's claims was that only two vehicles would be withdrawn if the railway was re-opened, and that these lorries would be re-deployed on journeys elsewhere.

Following the decision, the RDS contacted the Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions. We have learnt that the department will contact all parties to the inquiry giving them a further opportunity to make representations to the Secretary of State. A fresh determination would then be made.

Meeting on Freight By Rail The meeting was held jointly with Transport 2000 Cornwall, Devon and Plymouth groups in November at Plymouth University. Stuart Walker, RDS South West secretary, opened with a brief talk on potential road to rail freight interchange points in the West Country. Possible sites the RDS felt worthwhile developing included: Heathfield, adjacent to the A38; Tavistock Junction, adjacent to Marsh Mills A38 interchange, Plymouth; Victoria Business Park, Roche; Cardrew, adjacent to the West Cornwall Enterprise Centre and A30 road, Redruth and Long Rock, Penzance. Huw Phillips, of English Welsh and Scottish Railway gave examples of recent growth in traffic including the transport of pipes for South West Water's infrastructure renewal schemes in Cornwall and the delivery of coal to Falmouth Docks. He also said there were good prospects for the return of fertiliser traffic to rail. Mr Phillips agreed that road-rail transfer points need not require expensive heavy cranes. They need be nothing more than a concrete hard standing with a 'Reach Stacker' or fork lift truck to handle containers or pallets. In Cornwall, EWS had hired a Macsaivor's road crane to transfer a container from rail to road to complete its journey.

Newquay line diversion Informed sources are suggesting that the A30 road scheme across Goss Moor will not now take place in the foreseeable future and so neither will the associated diversion of the railway to St Austell. It is understood that the re-routing of the line via St Dennis would prove too costly as it involves major earthworks at an embankment, and the provision of a siding at ECCI's Parkandillack to replace the main branch line that currently acts as the freight siding. Truro and St Austell MP Matthew Taylor has called for the line to be re-routed so that the bridge can be removed. This, he says, would speed up the dualling of the A30 across Goss Moor when those plans are approved. Railtrack and Amey Railways were repairing the bridge over the weekend of 17/18 January after it had been hit by a lorry last summer. At the time, this accident disrupted both road and rail services coming into Cornwall on a busy summer Saturday.

Looe flooding Wales & West has arranged for Railtrack to raise the level of the track bed near Looe in order to reduce, though not completely avoid, the need to close the branch line at high tide. Unfortunately there are still no plans to erect lighting at Sandplace Causeland or St Keyne to allow trains to stop there after dark. The competing bus service suffers no such restriction.

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