I'm not sure if that is the plan, I was under the impression that the alternate service would be the 2 hourly Paddington to Exeter stoppers, again, not confirmed and would need the 2 hourly intervals of one of the services to flip to the "other" hour
It only applied to the Canary Wharf section where Olympia and York invested millions in Canary Wharf. The Royal Docks were 20 years complete failure despite some housing and retail park in Beckton.
I think the idea is to stop The Cardiff Penzance and extend the Cardiff Taunton to Exeter to give a minimum hourly service. If the proposed Axminster train ever start they could be extended to Taunton as the capacity would be there to reverse them.
The stations were in the same report as they were intended to be a pair, replacing road journeys on the A380/A379 corridor.
Remember going to Beckton wondering why they bothered with some of the stations as so baron. Soon changed and the money poured in to the area.
But not for twenty years.
Better than having all the development and waiting for the station for twenty years!
There are no plans to stop Cardiff / Penzance - a great success since the number of daily trains was increased. The Taunton terminators will extend to Exeter to give Wellington (and later Cullompton) an hourly service.
The Taunton terminators are roughly two hourly, the opposite to the Cardiff-Penzance, which together make an hourly service between Taunton and Cardiff, are you suggesting then that Cullompton and Wellington will get a 2 hourly service?
A large section of the existing light industrial estate is allocated for mixed-use (but primarily residential development) in the Exeter local plan, detailed here: https://exeterplanfull.commonplace.is/en-GB/proposals/marsh-barton/start
And here too https://www.waterlaneexeter.co.uk/
Makes sense - presumably the development closer to Exeter centre is easier to sell initially
Do you have proof that it was a deliberate falsehood, not an error at the time, or a forecast that has been overtaken by events? If so - please present it!
That’s a different thing from a lie, though.
As can be seen forecast passenger numbers were 160,000 in the first year, which was for the assumed opening date of 2016. Given what has happened since with Covid, the drop in forecast passengers lines up relatively well with what has been seen across the country, especially given Marsh Barton's forecast traffic was largely reliant on people commuting to work, before new developments open, which they still haven't, and Marsh Barton has been hit very heavily by closures of businesses, especially after Covid.
Deliberately misleading the public with inflated, unrealistic forecasts at all stages to obtain funding is basically a lie. Obviously much has happened since the business case was written but it wasn't true to start with.
In most of Devon yes, but a lot of that has to do with tourism. Marsh Barton is located on an industrial estate which has been particularly hard hit by closures, and very few will want to visit. That combined with few nearby houses means the the recovery would be expected to be significantly lower than other areas of Devon.
Thanks. Anything based on developers’ forecasts has to be taken with a generous pinch of salt. In my last job, we were always being implored by developers to provide community infrastructure based on their proposals, which were, without exception, wildly optimistic in terms of timings.
Yes I mean I think from just looking at the CBR of something like 5 we can see that they were being quite optimistic.
I agree and business travel is recovering far slower here in Devon but that, and your other points, are all reasons supporting my argument that building the station should not have gone ahead without a full reassessment of benefits given these issues.
And all of them busy,except perhaps Marsh Barton but its day will come.
Traffic in Devon has been ahead of pre-Covid for some time. Best example is Exeter Central which was above 2018/19 in 2022/23.
And anecdotally that feels like the case. Traffic has changed from commuter to shopper but also changing shift patterns mean more travellers mid week. Morning services from Exmouth to Exeter Central are often full by the time it reaches Digby.
