Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• J Rivers-Vaughan , Tavistock

  It amazes me that the manufacturers of the hi-tech signalling and points systems don't make the electrics entirely waterproof. The same goes for modern cars. We had a 4x4 written off owing to completely ruined electrics in the flooding just before Christmas. The old signalling, being mechanical, would work virtually whatever the weather, just as cars without computers would be ok once dried off. I don't agree that the trains are 'terrible' - FGW HS2s and Virgin Voyagers are perfectly comfortable, and use of trains is expanding rapidly. Our local branch line train (Gunnislake-Plymouth was packed today and has been on most trips I've taken in the last year. It may some years off, but I think the old SR route via Tavistock and Okehampton will eventually reopen. As for Cowley Bridge area, infrastructure improvements will have to be made to prevent further track damage by flooding.

• rick, plymouth

  A government of the current political persuasion is unlikely to feel pressured by protests from an area of the country where they have safe seats that will return them to power no matter what happens (or doesnt) and a government that has no chance of gaining seats in this part of the country is unlikely to seriously address the needs of those who live in this part of the world so it is unlikely we will have anyone in power who will take our protests seriously. but if they should - reopen the inland route via Okehampton and Tavistock (both towns destined to grow substantially in the future (even if the Nimbies want them locked in a pseudo-victorian timewarp) and lay in a cord from the GWR mainline avoiding the junction at Cowley bridge.

• Sean, Tavistock, UK

  If buses are the fallback of choice for our fragile rail services, why build more rail instead of automating bus services?
  
  I can't help thinking the infrastructure to allow remote-control vehicles (our cars, suitably equipped at cost to us) to run in a dedicated jam-free motorway lane would be far less than any rail upgrade. We should be at the point now where we could steer our cars onto the motorway, join the middle lane, engage autodrive and be swept into the right-hand lane where we can open our newspaper or catch up on our work / sleep for the hours to London.
  
  I love trains, but I think on anything other than ram-packed inter-city or freight routes their day has gone.

• Lorentz, London

  Would the number of passengers on this line justify the costs that are being implied? Perhaps a more cost effective solution would to be carry inflatableboats on the trains in the area. Lets stop wasting more on regional services that do not pay their way.

• Nick Waugh, Exeter

  I live at Cowley bridge and can see the line and the river from the house, it does look like it would be very difficult to raise the track bed at this point due to the road bridge, the end of riverside sidings and the junction with the Barnstaple line all being within 100 feet of each other. I wondered if it may be possible to embed the track in concrete over this small section and raise any wires above the flood water level so that if there was flooding it would only cause the line to be closed for a matter of hours, rather than all the ballast getting washed away and it taking days and costing thousands to repair. I watched them re-build the track three times over Christmas, this will keep happening, the land is so saturated down here that it only takes a little rain now for the river to rise up above it's banks.

• Tim, Devon

  Chris F:
  
  The West of England Mainline out of Exeter is single track so not much spare capacity for diversionary trains.

• John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire

  It is rather ironic that one of the main centres of current flooding on the railways of the south-west is at Cowley Bridge junction. Exeter! For this is flooding which would have cut both GWR AND Southern Lines and rendered a rebuilt SW main line via Okehampton to Plymouth as unusable as the GWR line via the Teignmouth seawall.

• J Hutton, Oxford

  Surely Network Rail has a list of the places where their network is at risk from flooding, etc, and has robust plans to ensure that these problems are addressed as soon as possible. Or is this someone else's responsibility? ORR? DfT? Obviously fixing the problems will not be cheap but the cost of an unreliable network for the national economy are not negligible. Locally, the line south of Oxford is liable to flooding - the local MPs have apparently written to National Rail as they have been dragging their feet about getting the water courses which cause the problem dealt with.

• Jack99, Oxford

  British Rail Folly was closing the ex Southern mainline from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton. With the Kilbride backed reopening from Bere Alston to Tavistock becoming a reality surely the Network Rail Director Bonuses could be diverted ( pardon the pun ) to reopen the Okehampton to Tavistock section therefore giving a viable second route from Exeter to Plymouth should the line be closed at Dawlish.
  At Cowley Bridge Junction the only thing you can do is to raise the Bridges and embankments to provide better resilience against flooding but this will a major project due to the topography. Also would recommend doubling the Castle Cary/ Salisbury - Yeovil Junction to Exeter ex Southern mainline so that Exeter has a full capacity diversionary route to London , The Devon Metro - Okehampton to Axminster can be introduced serving the growth area of Exeter Airport , better services Exeter to London via Yeovil can be re-introduced and ( anyone remember the Atlantic Coast express ) reducing the need to spend millions on dualling the A303. The rail optiions are much cheaper to enact on the cost/ benefit analysis and would be quick to introduce. Who in Regional Government will fight for these logical steps to be taken?

• Hugh Collins, Cheltenham

  Surely the solution at Cowley Bridge must be to raise the track, the junction itself, and the underbridges by a metre or so along the flood affected length. No more track flooding and the higher bridges would allow flood water to escape more rapidly.

• Brian Moore, Brundall

  Everybody seems to forget there was a diversionary route available until the late 1950s from Exeter to Newton Abbot via Christow, joining the Morehamptead branch at Heathfield. One wonders how much of that is still extant. Why not investigate the resinstatement of same?
  
  (Intriguing idea, and the Heathfield-Newton Abbot section is still there [although partly 'out of use']. However the route was single track and the structures were apparently insufficient for most main line [i.e. tender] locomotives. The few types that were permitted were limited to 25mph. Trains generally achieved an average speed of about 17mph, including stops. I don't know about the state of the disused formation, but the fact that the GWR was planning a new diversion before the second world war suggests that it was not adequate then and would not be worth reinstating now.—Editor)

• Chris F, Switzerland

  I spent Christmas in Cornwall. I managed to get there in the window between the lines out of Paddington being closed due to a signal box fire, and the second flooding outside Exeter. Luckily the line re-opened before I had to get back.
  I agree the line past Exeter is slow and trains are usually late. It is curvaceous, but I am sure some improvement could be made, for example tilting trains.
  FGW was busing passengers between Exeter and Taunton, round the blockage. What I do not understand is why they were not using the Waterloo-Exeter line, which remained open, and then returning the trains to the Paddington line, for example via Basingstoke-Reading.

• Howard Parker, Bristol

  Get rid of the complex high tech solutions. It all worked in steam days!

• Martin Hollands, Aylesbury

  Well as most of the water that causes the problems falls on Council Land, perhaps they ought to put their house in order first!
  
  Another option of course would be to cut the lines completely East of the problems and let the councils re-instate it in the spirit of shared ownership!

• Tim, Devon

  "Network Rail said it was 'fully aware' of the issues at Cowley Bridge, and that improvements were likely to be treated as a matter of priority, including the possible use of stilts to mount electrical equipment clear of the flood level."
  In other words they don't care if the line floods and they have to stop the trains, all they care about is protecting their equipment from being damaged.
  The trains in the south west are awful. They are slow and unreliable. It's always quicker to drive wherever you want to go. Nothing will improve because the government see Devon and Cornwall as places they have to go for their mandatory UK holiday and where pensioners go to die . They do not see us as a place where people actually live and work and where the economy could actually grow if we had any sort of decent transport links.
  
  

• Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England

  You're not alone. The flood plain just north of Darlington is also a bloody nuisance (albeit not on the scale of the south-west).
  
  Don't really relish the thought of spending loads of money on measures that merely allow us to carry on providing the same service (as opposed to something that brings improvements), but it looks like it's got to be done.