Devon and Cornwall versus HS2

The Institute for Transport Studies’ Tom Worsley has said it would be “very difficult” to get a second railway into the South West approved, despite the line at Dawlish being destroyed by storms.

[Storm-hit Dawlish: ‘Difficult’ to get alternative rail line, BBC, 2 March 2014]

Prof Jon Shaw, from Plymouth University, said: “We’re going to have a lot of competition [for funding], we’ve got a big hurdle to overcome to convince the government we need the money first this time instead of it going elsewhere.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Network Rail has been asked to look at options for Dawlish including a review of securing the coastal line and the feasibility of alternative routes.

Ninety per cent of travellers to the South West, and maybe ninety-nine per cent of freight, go by road. Both the Great Western and HS2 could be described as loss-making infrastructure.

However, the effort and works in creating the Great Western are largely sunk costs, and building a few kilometres of new track to secure access to the South West has a far better equity case than building hundreds of kilometres of vanity trackage to serve places which are already linked by multiple rail and motorway systems.