Why the future looks bright for Somerset’s rail network – and a …
Somerset was hit particularly hard by the infamous Beeching cuts of the mid-1960s, which saw around one-third of the UK’s rail network close as both the Conservative and Labour governments of the day struggled to stem financial losses as passenger numbers declined.
The county avoided losing all of its remaining lines under the Serpill Report of 1982 – a report quietly abandoned by Margaret Thatcher’s government shortly before the following year’s general election.
But as Somerset’s population has grown and its road network has become more congested, the future of its remaining rail network has been brought into sharper rail focus.
Some of the former mainline routes have been preserved as heritage lines, including the West Somerset Railway between Bishop’s Lydeard and Minehead and the East Somerset Railway in Cranmore.
Other former routes have found a new lease of life for pedestrians and cyclists – such as the Stop Line Way in Chard and Ilminster, the Strawberry Line between Yatton and Cheddar, and the Windsor Hill route in Shepton Mallet.
It may not be possible to restore all of Somerset’s lost railways, with huge swathes being replaced by roads, housing developments, industrial properties or lost to nature.
But as we move into 2024 (just over 60 years after the first Beeching report was published), there is cause for optimism as several new railway stations begin to home into view.
Here’s your guide to where things stand:
The Gravity site
The Gravity enterprise zone lies on the former Royal Ordnance factory site between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington, east of the M5 near Bridgwater[1].
News broke in mid-July, on the eve of the Somerton and Frome by-election, that Tata (which owns Jaguar Land Rover) intends to build a £4bn electric vehicle battery plant on the 616-acre “smart campus” – with the UK government providing £500m to pump-prime the site.
The original master-plan for the site includes a new railway station, which would carry both freight and passenger travel onto the Bristol to Exeter mainline, allowing employees to commute from Highbridge and Burnham railway station.
An artist’s impression of the proposed Gravity smart campus. (Image: Gravity)
The trackbed for the original Royal Ordnance rail link remains in place, with space for a single track running over the M5 north of junction 23.
But efforts to deliver a new rail link to the site – which were originally priced at £50m – remain at a standstill until the potential occupier of the site has signed on the dotted line.
A spokesman for Somerset Council stated in November: “There has been no confirmation of a gigafactory site, yet so this isn’t something we can comment on.”
Wellington
Restoring rail services to Wellington has been a long-standing ambition – with Jeremy Browne, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton Deane, raising the issue in parliament in 2014 and his Conservative successor Rebecca Pow making it a priority since she was first elected in 2015.
Restoring the original railway station, which closed in 1964, was not deemed practical without forcibly relocating some of the town’s major employers, including KDC Swallowfield, Relyon and Pritex.
Instead, the new station will be built north of the town’s Lidl store off Nynehead Road, on land allocated for employment use within the Taunton Deane Core Strategy.
Somerset councillors have been working with their counterparts on Mid Devon District Council to create business cases to restore rail services to both Wellington and Cullompton, which lost its railway station in the same year.
Both stations lie on the Bristol to Exeter mainline, and would be served by Great Western Railway (GWR) – both those between Exeter and Bristol and those between Exeter and London Paddington via Taunton.
The projects received a major boost in October when prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that Wellington railway station would be “funded to delivery” following the cancellation of the High Speed 2 link between Birmingham and Manchester.
Rebecca Pow with plans for the new Wellington Station.
Rail minister Huw Merriman MP stated at the time: “I am delighted to be able to confirm that the project will be funded to delivery, subject to future updates to the project business case.”
The new station is expected to cost £15m and will be delivered by Network Rail, which is now leading the project.
David Northey, a retired strategic planner with Network Rail, indicated at an event in May that the station would initially be served by trains every two hours as part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) service between Exeter St. David’s and Cardiff Central.
However, he said this will likely increase to once per hour as demand grows, citing the success of the recently-reopened Okehempton station on the northern edge of the Dartmoor national park.
West of England Developments (Taunton) Ltd. has applied to deliver the access road and car parking for the new station as part of a wider development of 220 homes, commercial space and a possible care home to the north of the B3187 Taunton Road.
The plans also include the delivery of a new park and improved walking and cycling links from the Cades Farm and Longforth Farm major housing sites.
A decision on these plans is expected in the spring – with Network Rail expected to submit designs for the actual station facilities around the same time.
In addition to the new car parking, the station could eventually be served by a park and ride site near the Westpark 26 business park, which forms part of the Wellington Place Plan adopted in March.
Existing footpaths linking the railway station site to nearby developments and the historic Tonedale Mill site could also be enhanced after the government provided £20m from its levelling up fund to regenerate the mill and the neighbouring Tone Works site.
A spokesman for Somerset Council stated in late-October: “The link between the delivery of the new railway station in Wellington and regeneration works at Tonedale Mill and the council-owned Tone Works is already well established.
“The development of the station and the regeneration of Tonedale Mill and Tone Works are seen by the council and all parties involved as intrinsically linked. This is about working towards the mutual benefit of both projects, and importantly the town as a whole.
“These aspirations are reflected in the Wellington Place Plan (which was adopted in March), which identified the preferred area of growth in north Tonedale; the strategic outline business case for the station, and bids for pots of funding for Tonedale Mill and Tone Works, including the levelling up fund.
“We can’t at this stage be specific about routes, but can confirm that discussions continue around public rights of way in and around the station and links to north Tonedale, the town centre, as well as in and around the town.”
One way or another, the current plan is for the new railway station to be open to passenger services by September 2025.
Chard Parkway
Chard Junction railway station served the villages south of Chard for more than 100 years before it was closed in March 1966.
Councillor Connor Payne (whose Chard South division includes the station site) has been spearheading a campaign for a new ‘Chard Parkway’ station on the site, which would provide hourly services to Exeter and London.
Mr Payne secured £23,000 from local residents and businesses to fund an outline business case, which was completed and submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in the autumn.
The former station lies on the mainline between London Waterloo and Exeter St. David’s, a short distance from the village of Tatworth and mere metres from the Dorset border.
The station uses to provide a direct link to Chard via a branch line, but this was also scaled back and closed in the mid-1960s, with Chard Central railway station being turned into retail outlets and much of the trackbed on to Ilminster now forming the Stop Line Way cycle route.
The line is currently served by South Western Railway, which runs hourly services in each direction stopping at Crewkerne and Axminster.
Connor Payne with representatives of Network Rail. (Image: Connor Payne)
Trains regularly wait at Chard Junction during normal services, with the double track serving as a passing loop for the single track section towards Axminster.
Mr Payne – who was elected in the local election in May 2022 – estimates that a new station would serve a community of around 30,000 people and could lead to the creation of around 5,000 new jobs as companies move to and invest in the local area.
Speaking in July, he said: “With all the houses that will come to Chard over the next few years, the Chard Junction catchment would reach around 30,000 people, whereas the catchment areas for Axminster and Crewkerne are significantly lower.
“Why should we be putting the extra damage on our bus services which we can have an easy link to the rail network?”
Mr Payne said he was confident that the new Chard Parkway station could cost much less than the £15m required for the new Wellington station, thanks to the support of the neighbouring businesses and landowners.
He said: “We want to utilise their land and business to get them to have a stake in the station.
“J. B. Wheaton is looking at making a car park, which would significantly reduce the cost for the government. There is an existing platform which will need replacing, but the more you can chip off, the cheaper it gets.”
Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh, whose constituency includes the proposed station site, has thrown his support behind the campaign.
Speaking in August, he said: “I’m pleased that officials are looking into some of the detail of what the Chard Parkway reopening might entail.
“This project which would benefit people in Chard and beyond has my full support.”
The results of a Network Rail timetabling study, which will show how feasible it is for trains to call at the station site, are expected to be published early in the new year.
Somerton and Langport
Somerton and Langport once had three railway stations between them, before all three closed under the Beeching cuts.
Both of Langport’s original railway stations have seen been redeveloped, with the Langport West site becoming the Westover trading estate and the Langport East site being redeveloped into new homes.
Somerton’s original station lay down Station Path near the town centre, with the only evidence of its existence today being a 350-metre long siding.
The stretch of track between Taunton and Castle Cary, which runs through the two towns, is the longest stretch without a railway station in the entirety of the south west.
Somerton and Frome MP Sarah Dyke with Members of the Langport Transport Group. (Image: Somerton And Frome Liberal Democrats)
Restoring rail services to this area has been a long-standing ambition, with David Warburton making it a priority when he was first elected MP for Somerton and Frome in 2015.
In February 2022, the Langport Transport Group, supported by its stakeholders, submitted a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) to the Department for Transport (DfT).
It recommended that there was a strong case for a new station in the area, arguing that it could attract around 200,000 passengers a year – roughly the same number as Castle Cary, and more than either Bruton, Crewkerne, Frome or Templecombe.
Since the business case has not been made public, the proposed sites for the new railway station have not been confirmed.
There are unconfirmed reports that two sites are being considered: one on Ricksey Lane in Somerton (south of the Patch Meadows housing estate), and one on Wagg Drove in the parish of Huish Episcopi, to the east of Langport.
The Langport Transport Group has been waiting for an update on the proposal since July 2022 – but the government has kept quiet.
Sarah Dyke, who was elected MP for Somerton and Frome in July, has written to transport secretary Mark Harper MP asking for an urgent update.
She said: “I’m very excited about the environmentally-friendly possibilities for the new station and I’d love to see Somerton leading the way in greener public transport for the South West.
“But we urgently need an update from the government. The station proposal was submitted almost two years ago and we’ve heard nothing since July 2022. People in this part of Somerset deserve an answer.”
While the new station would primarily be served by Great Western Railway (GWR), it could also be served by battery-powered Go-Op trains, with recharging facilities for the eco-friendly trains.
Go-Op, which is co-operatively owned, intends to begin operating trains between Weston-super-Mare and Swindon (via Taunton) by the end of 2024.
Operations director Alex Lawrie said: “We regard this proposed new station as having wider significance beyond mid-Somerset – it could unlock investment in a number of infrastructure and transport enhancements across the south west, including new bus routes, long distance train routes and safety improvements.
“We are committed to bringing zero carbon trains to Somerton at the earliest opportunity.”
The DfT confimed on December 14 that no final decision had yet been taken – but gave no time-scale for when the outcome would be announced.
A spokesman said: “The Langport and Somerton railway station strategic outline business case remains under consideration by the department, and an update will be provided in due course.”
What does the future hold?
On top of all these potential stations, other improvements are being explored which could provide Somerset with better rail services – including links to neighbouring settlements in Devon.
Peninsular Transport (which brings together local authorities in Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay) recently published its rail strategy, which outlines how improvements in the West Country’s rail services would drive economic growth and tackle climate change.
The bulk of the strategy focuses on Devon and Cornwall, building on the ongoing ‘rail resilience’ projects in Dawlish and Teignmouth and the reopening of the Dartmoor Line between Exeter and Okehampton.
However, a number of improvements have put forward which would directly benefit Somerset – including:
- expanding the Devon and Cornwall Railcard to cover Somerset, allowing people aged 16 and over to save a third on off-peak rail fares
- a full review of timetables to ensure rail services are better integrated with local bus services
- extending Bristol to Taunton and Cardiff to Taunton services as far as Exeter St. David’s every two hours
- allowing nine daily CrossCountry services between Exeter and Manchester Piccadilly to call at Bridgwater
- raising the services between Exeter St. David’s and Salisbury to two per hour, by extending double track sections at Axminster and Yeovil Junction
- expanding services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth to one train per hour (via Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill)
- creating a new two-hourly service between Taunton and Exeter Central (via Wellington)
- restoring the rail service between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard, providing access to the West Somerset Railway (following trials in late-2019)
Councillor Andrea Davis, chair of Peninsula Transport, said: “Better, more integrated rail services are vital to the future prosperity of the south west, and also essential to de-carbonising our transport system as a whole.
“For the south west, we have been united in making the case for rail improvements for years. The peninsula has been constant in its message to government that the resilience of our rail network is crucial.”
Councillor Mark Coker, chairman of the Peninsula Rail Task Force, added: “Our ambition has always been to improve resilience and deliver better rail services. As the region’s population grows, we will need to connect new communities to the network and offer speedy, simple and affordable journeys so rail becomes the obvious choice for more people.
“As well as offering an enhanced service for passengers, investment in the south west’s infrastructure has enormous potential to unlock growth in rail freight, helping the region’s businesses while contributing to efforts to reduce carbon emissions by diverting more goods away from roads.”
The full strategy can be viewed online at www.peninsulatransport.org.uk.
References
- ^ Bridgwater (www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk)