Dawlish washed away

It could be reinstated, but most of Devon railways were built in river valleys because it was easier and cheaper and closed due to the depopulation of central Devon. Any new inland route would probably follow the existing A38 but if it did not call at Newton Abbott it would be a disaster for Torbay. Although after 50 years they are finally building the Kingkerswell bypass as far more people come by road in car and coach. Ironically they want to build a new station at Kerswell Gardens near the Torbay Hospital and possible reopening of Kingkerswell station.

Better still, ditch HS2 altogether, think of the future and build underground rail routes. My understanding is that the geography is and always has been a big problem. A couple of double track tunnels between the existing routes would be a better use of £taxpayers billions. Right now if I were Network Rail I wouldn't be worrying about the coastal route because sooner or later it will probably all be washed away. We have had a permanent change of climate in recent decades and I doubt that it will be any better in future years than it is now, better to start again. I heard on the news that NR are bringing resources from all over the UK to the affected area. One has to wonder at what cost and what knock-on effect it will have elsewhere as the system is squeezed to achieve it.

HS2 is a waste of money, if I were going to spend what it is estimated to cost to build at present I'd be hiring tunnellers and TBMs and making it an Underground line serving the whole island!

The coastside platform is to be knocked down as the sea lifted it from it's foundations and it is now fouling the trains.

Reading through news reports there is speculation that the line will be singled and with a bit of argument leave it singled with loops permanently as a local route only. Then the rest of the trains would be permanently diverted onto the alternative route.

It's not the current traffic but the relative speeds of the local trains with the expresses that is difficult with some local trains standing at Dawlish Warren to allow through trains to pass on the centre tracks.

As with everything in the UK today this is simply 'fire fighting'. As I have been saying for years we should drop the 'Great' because Britain isn't anymore. The politicians have fiddled and fiddled for decades while the infrastructure has been crumbling away, there has been no long term planning for the future, just plenty of prevarication at investing in everything required to keep the wheels of the nation in motion. I am fed up of hearing that Britain is the seventh largest economy in the world, a rich nation and similar claims, it looks more like a third world country than ever at present. If the country can afford foreign wars and foreign aid then it can afford to invest in proper infrastructure planning. There is no reason on earth for rail planning and implementation to take as long as it does in this country except that all politicians are weak and lobby groups have too much clout, there is a real need to cut out the red tape and get on with sorting out the mess. It's not about money at all, but more the determination and will to succeed!

South West news today say railtrack are considering three inland routes, the favourite being by via Oakhampton but they do not own the land on much of the route anymore and some has been built over.

It would be a major engineering feat as a 10 coach train would have to reverse at the moment at Exeter St David's (no problem), Bere Alston (big problem), and Plymouth (no problem) to continue into Cornwall. As soon as Dawlish reopens it will be quietly shelved.

The BBC are reporting it here.

Why? You've got a double track, two platform station pointing in the right direction on the old mainline formation.

I did not realise the railway went east from Bere Alsto. I have found this.

www.devon.gov.uk/exhibition-material.pdf

@ revupminster

norbitonflyer is correct. Re-instatement would actually not be such a big deal but for stupid EU regulations mean that platforms and everything else would not be able to be re-instated as they once were, but re-built to "new build" standards. Just like Bourne End, Bere (pronounced BEER) Alston was once a junction, and the "Bere Alston and Callington light railway" connected with Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton trains. Beeching got the branch closed west of Gunnislake, but geographical hardship prevented complete closure.

Don't forget London - Exeter trains arrive at Exeter from the north, so naturally continue to Dawlish and Plymouth, but trains on the old Southern route from Waterloo approach Exeter from the south so would carry on to Plymouth via Okehampton without reversal.

I do NOT see this re-opening project ever being shelved. It would be political suicide for anyone to stop this project now.

On the South West news they are talking about fast links into Devon. Waterloo to Exeter is 3 hours. The fastest Paddington to Plymouth is 3 hours. A third route mentioned is from Newton Abbott behind the towns of Dawlish and Teignmouth and rejoin the main line in the Exe valley. This would speed up the line but the River Exe is another vulnerable spot.

It's slower for loads of reasons including:
1. Maximum line speed west of Basingstoke is 90 mph
2. Class 159s have lower acceleration than HSTs and a maximum speed of 90 mph so cannot benefit from the 100 mph setions east of Basingstoke
3. There are substantial sections of single line west of Salisbury requiring timings to allow trains to pass in the loops or the double track section between Templecombe and Yeovil Junction
4. All trains from Waterloo have at least 13 intermediate stops and most have more compared with typically 2 to 6 from Paddington
5. Most trains divide/join at Salisbury and time is allowed for this

A hundred years ago there was less difference, and indeed the LSWR probably had the edge over the GWR until the Edwardian period, when there was considerable rivalry between the companies over the boat train traffic from Plymouth. Two of the results of this were "City of Truro"'s alleged 100mph run at Wellington, and the Salisbury crash on the night before the GWR's new cut off, bypassing the "Great Way Round" through Bristol, would effectively bring "Game Over" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GWR_main_line_cut_off_routes.png - The LSWR route was still the main line in Southern Railway days, but after nationalisation GWR route was prioritised (especially after the LSWR route west of Salisbury was transferred to the Western Region!) and the LSWR line reduced to secondary status.

But I don't understand why anyone is suggesting future services to west of Exeter via Okehampton would have to take the LSWR route from London to Exeter. All trains call at Exeter (and Plymouth for that matter) and, with the exception of the Night Riviera Sleeper, all passenger services are unit trains so can easily be reversed there. (A reversal at Plymouth, and the associated shunting, might even allow restoration of the much-missed Plymouth portion of the sleeper, allowing passengers for west Devon and East Cornwall to stay in bed until a civilised hour instead of being tipped out at the crack of dawn before the train continues through Cornwall)