PLYMOUTH has fewer three-hour train services to London than it did in the 1970s, the city’s Cabinet member for transport says.

Cllr Kevin Wigens called for more investment in rail, saying the lack of fast trains to London was a “significant handicap” for Plymouth’s economy.

“Three-hour and sub-three-hour train journeys are vital for attracting inward investment. I’m dismayed when I think back to the 1970s, when three hours was the norm for many services.

“There was a big sign outside the station about three-hour journeys.”

Mr Wigens blamed the Department for Transport, which he said set the core services that companies like First Great Western must provide.

“Plymouth City Council has been pressing the Department for Transport to increase the number of three-hour services.” Mr Wigens said journey times were increased when extra stops were added to a service.

“Exeter has more or less a two-hour journey to London and a good motorway link.

Plymouth has neither and suffers as a result.” He said a motorway link would boost Plymouth’s economy.

“In the present economic climate it’s not going to happen, but we should have had it many years ago.

“I don’t believe the Department for Transport understands how critical the three-hour issue is for us.”

Plymouth businessman Charles Howeson called for money to be diverted from roads to the railway.

Mr Howeson, the chairman of the First Great Western Trains Advisory Board and also chairman of the Plymouth Area Business Council, said he fully supported the council’s call for more investment.

“We’d love to see electrification,” he said. “Track speeds have not improved for many years because they are generally at the theoretical maximum without big investment in work like altering curves and signals.

“Our railway was built in the Victorian era.”

Stephen Kearney, chairman of the South West Devon Liberal Democrats, said: “We have to go down the route of electrification.

“The Government cut VAT to 15 per cent earlier this year to encourage people to go shopping and get deeper in debt. They should have invested it in the kind of infrastructure we are talking about.

“One of the reasons the United States has come out of recession so quickly is that rather than giving people money to go shopping it invested in infrastructure and creating jobs.”

Devonport MP Alison Seabeck, who chaired the South West Select Committee, said witnesses had emphasised the vital importance of the A303, the second strategic road link.

“In the short to medium term the far South West isn’t going to benefit from big capital outlays on rail so airports will continue to have a big role. Plymouth is the only small regional airport to have increased passenger numbers this year.”

Trains should be more reliable rather than faster, Roger Creagh-Osborne, local Green Party politician and a member of the Saltash Rail Users Group, said.

“I don’t believe the lack of three-hour services is a limiting factor,” Mr Creagh-Osborne said.

“I don’t think the extra 15 or 30 minutes makes an awful lot of difference to someone’s decision to use the train.

“What makes the difference is their actual experience of the journey, and whether the train arrives on time. If I’m delayed one time in ten, my perception is that the train isn’t reliable.”

He called for better services at weekends and a later train leaving London at night.

“Frequency, reliability and regularity are more important than the headline speeds,” Mr Creagh-Osborne said.

Climate change meant Plymouth should not rely on air travel as an alternative to rail, he added.

“I don’t see regional air transport as viable because of the carbon cost. I don’t think Plymouth Airport will close any time soon, but it’s not worth developing it for mass transport.”

Plea for improved transport links for Plymouth

CALLS have been made for a “nationally significant” rail link connecting Plymouth to other major UK cities which is seen as vital to it becoming a regional economic powerhouse.

The low priority given to train routes in the South West was holding Plymouth back from achieving its “full potential” MPs have been told.

While progress had been made in recent years with journey times between Plymouth and London being cut to three hours, the city council has stressed the need for continuing service improvements to overcome the perception of the area’s remoteness.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into transport in the region, the local authority pointed out the coastal rail link at Dawlish had been damaged on a number of occasions by the weather, cutting the mainline to Plymouth and Cornwall.

Meanwhile, a passenger group submitted to the Commons South West Select Committee a wish-list of improvements it wanted to see to train services in the area, including using the Teign Valley line as an alternative when the mainline to Plymouth was closed by storms.

The South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) has also called for transport funding to be more “evenly balanced” given that the region received well below the national average, and other parts of the UK.

In evidence to the select committee, the owner of Plymouth City Airport and Air Southwest highlighted the ‘significant’ injections of public funding to Newquay and Exeter airports.

Sutton Harbour Group questioned the allocation of government subsidy “which has the potential for creating market distortions and inefficiency”.

Plymouth City Council in its submission to MPs emphasised the need for continued improvement in train services with London.

“In order for Plymouth to fulfill its role as second city in the region and economic hub for the peninsula it is vital that a nationally significant rail link connects it to the larger centres of business in London, Birmingham, Manchester and with onward rail connections to European cities,” the council said.

“The low priority afforded to the South West peninsula, in terms of rail infrastructure, does not enable Plymouth to achieve its full potential and does not allow business to capitalise on the excellent quality of life for its employees that can be offered by this area.”

The council also called for Network Rail to show “greater commitment” to the electrification of the rail lines in the South West.

And there was a need for regional bodies to take a more “balanced approach” to different parts of the region, with the main focus of resources being the West of England.

“Resources are not as readily available in support of other parts of the region, including Plymouth which is the second largest city and destined to accommodate significant levels of growth,” it said.

In its submission SWRDA said that transport in the region was “not adequate to meet the existing and future needs placed on the region”.

It added that the cost of identified transport improvement priorities are ‘substantial’, and the region could not afford them on its own.

The RDA pointed to official Treasury figures that showed in 2007/08 the South West received £258 of total public sector transport spending for each resident, compared to an England average of £323, £667 for London and £552 for Scotland.

“In view of the duty on the RDAs to reduce regional economic disparities, the characteristics of the South West and the significant level of economic growth identified, these figures need to be more evenly balanced,” it said.

Superfast broadband would attract business to Plymouth

ELECTRIFICATION of trains to Plymouth is unlikely to happen in the short term, Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Devonport, said.

Ms Seabeck, who chaired the South West Select Committee, which met in Taunton, said that turning Plymouth into a high-speed broadband hub would make the city more attractive for business.

“I don’t think we are going to see a significant reduction in the major transport commitments already made.

“But electrification of the South West rail line is a hugely complex task. It hasn’t been ruled out, but it’s not going to happen in the short term.

“By looking at connectivity in its widest sense there might be some opportunity to spend money differently.”

She said the cost of sending large amounts of data over the internet from Plymouth made it more economical for some businesses to send staff to London with a disc.

Gary Streeter, Conservative MP for South West Devon, said: “In the short term we should invest in super-fast broadband.”

The results of a report on the business case for Plymouth’s quest for super-fast broadband will be given at an event in the city later this month.

“By 2011 we could be plugged into this internet link and that would make a huge difference,” Mr Streeter said.

“In an ideal world I would want to see rail, road and air links all upgraded, but it’s hard to see that happening in the near future.

“No government in the next five to ten years is going to spend money electrifying the South West main line.”

Gavin Carrier, chief executive of Plymouth City Development Company, said: “If we want to assist Plymouth to grow then it’s vital to maintain and enhance the physical links.

“But broadband is vital if we are to attract new business and allow existing businesses to expand.

“If two cities are equal in every other basis, but one can offer better connectivity to London, that’s the one that will be chosen.”