Plymouth MP almost missed launch of £100million train campaign - because there was no train
Alison Seabeck almost missed the launch of the campaign for better rail links to the South West today, because there was no through train available to get her into Plymouth on time for the launch which took place at 10:30am this morning.
A task force has been set up to campaign for better rail links to the city. Read more about the campaign here
Alison Seabeck MP said: "This illustrates perfectly why we need better connectivity between Plymouth and London. It is ridiculous that I am unable to travel to Plymouth in time for a meeting starting at 10:30am. Businesses have told me time and time again that if we want to attract business to Plymouth that we need a regular and reliable train service, which will allow businesses to travel to the capital and back in a day.
"I have been leading the campaign supported by my fellow MPs and Plymouth City Council and local businesses to make the case for Plymouth with Ministers in London. The current consultation on the new 15-year franchise gives us a unique opportunity to ensure that we get the improvements we need to the rail service, after all it is estimated that these improvements will bring an estimated £94 million a year to the local economy."
A rail task force has been set up and is calling for businesses and individuals to get across the message that rail is vital to the city and the region’s growth. The task force will be telling ministers that for an annual extra investment of £10 million into rail links between the city and London, the returns would be almost ten times the value.
Leading rail industry consultants Steer Davis Gleave were jointly commissioned by the Chamber and the Council to look into the economic case for better rail connectivity and found that for an additional operating cost of £10 million a year, the economy stands to gain £94 million.
As well as aiming for faster trains, a key demand is for better on-board facilities such as WIFI and continuous mobile coverage to enable the business community to work en-route.
A timetable of improvements for Plymouth has been put together which sets out achievable improvements to existing rail services to and from Plymouth and the wider local network that could be made during the next franchise period.
It also details longer term ambitions such as feasibility studies and ground work ahead of a commitment to extend electrification of services to Plymouth.
13 Comments
View all
by puffing_billy
Thursday, February 09 2012, 10:50PM
“Everyone banging on about the airport (again). Brymon, BA, and Air Southwest couldn't make it viable so they had to pull out. What was the alternative, either demolish Southway and extend a runway or support it with a hefty subsidy from the Council Tax payer - I think not.”
by lutongreen
Thursday, February 09 2012, 10:31PM
“Nothing wrong with improving rail services to Plymouth but lets get things in perspective. Any improvement benefitting Plymouth will also benefit all places east. No one is talking about non stop rail services between London and Plymouth. Even non stop timings would not compare with the one to two hours already enjoyed by Bristol, Cardiff and Southampton. To compete and bring jobs to Plymouth the airport must be retained.
Contact your local councillor or MP now and tell them to get real!”
by mcspredder
Thursday, February 09 2012, 8:51PM
“A glance at a timetable last weekend during your planning for this week should have made you aware of this and enabled better forward-planning.
And this is an example of those in charge of running the country and has trouble catching a train. And publicly admitting to it!!
Honestly, Alison.”
by D1039
Thursday, February 09 2012, 8:16PM
“2345 Sleeper from Paddington?”
by ewan55
Thursday, February 09 2012, 7:56PM
“I believe they run a very good Express Bus (about 4 hours) service from London to Plymouth Alison... perhaps if you got out of bed earlier you could have caught one of these ?”
by mediclad
Thursday, February 09 2012, 7:23PM
“Oh PLEASE wake up and smell the coffee. Railway franchisees are there to make a healthy profit, places such as Plymouth and any where west of Bristol are not huge earners for the company, the places that earn the franchisee money are commuter belt such as Reading, Oxford, Bristol, Bath and Cardiff, all of which are big enough cities, all of which will be fighting for better railway services.
Plymouth City Council have firmly put all their eggs firmly in the railway basket since the closure of Plymouth City Airport, I believe these eggs are about to crack as the chances of getting improved services are very slim, dont forget we wont even be getting the new Intercity Express trains, (they'll stop at Exeter and wont travel any further west), so if we are keeping the oldest rolling stock on the network what makes PCC think that we'll get an improved service in the new franchise? Also worth bearing in mind is the fact that the franchise length will be 15 years, so if no improvements are made to the new franchise its a very long wait.
It is high time that Plympton had a train station built, has PCC ever thought about doing anything about that?
Its another nail in the coffin of Plymouth with the loss of the airport and a derisable train service that wont be improved for another 15 years at least, there is neither the will power at central government, in Network Rail, the potential franchisee or in fact the spare capacity to have earlier trains running from Paddington to Plymouth in the morning. Just think if only we had a small airline running to London City Airport!!!! Oh thats right we once did and PCC and SHH shut it!”
by JamieQ1
Thursday, February 09 2012, 5:16PM
“GreenGOM - the airport was always going to struggle with it's runway size, but with an extension, it could fly bigger planes and become a regional hub. With a company like Easyjet flying to Plymouth, it would open up so many more opportunities for the city. This shouldn't have been a fanciful dream - the city has 250,000 people (many of whom already drive miles to get to Bristol, Cardiff or even London Airports to fly places, - as well as Exeter) and it would also have had considerable pull from Cornwall and the rest of Devon.”
by FOXFAN99
Thursday, February 09 2012, 5:04PM
“There should be a train from Paddington at around 0600-0615 giving an arrival in Plymouth of around 0930.Maybe when the new franchise starts something like this may be introduced.
Mind you isnt Ms Seabeck aware of the overnight sleeper which leaves Paddington at 2345? That would have got her into Plymouth in plenty of time. Obviously not so she decides to moan about the lack of daytime service instead of checking out all options.
As for the airport it would be interesting to have the exact usage figures.”
by GreenGOM
Thursday, February 09 2012, 4:25PM
“Yes JamieQ1, let's have an airport that nobody uses and run it at a loss again. Cracking idea when we have an international airport only 40 minutes away.”
by BettyD
Thursday, February 09 2012, 2:53PM
“pogle63 couldn't have put it better myself...........you really couldn't make it up could you LOL”