I think Laira should get a new train station and it looks like you agree with me too!
I’ve had some incredible feedback on my campaign for a new Plymouth Metro train service and a proposed new station at Plympton and one at Laira too.
A few people on the Herald’s social media pages have posted similar questions so thought I’d answer a few together:
What’s the Plymouth Metro?
Metro services are hop on/hop off services that you see in big cities like London, Manchester and Liverpool. Using smaller stopping trains you run more frequent services. We are aiming for a train every 30minutes on the Plymouth Metro and that would go from Ivybridge to Bere Alston stopping at the stations between all day long helping provide a new regular way of getting around the city.
What are the different phases of the Plymouth Metro?
I have proposed a three phase Plymouth Metro. The first phase would be GWR running hop on/hop off stopping trains between Ivybridge and Bere Alston stopping at all the current stations: So that’s a route from Ivybridge, Plymouth, Devonport, Dockyard, Keyham, St Budeaux, Bere Ferrers and Bere Alston. The second phase would be adding more passengers to the network with a new station at Laira serving the communities of Efford, Lipson, Laira and Mount Gould, and a new station at Plympton too. This would provide real alternatives to getting in a car and open new opportunities for folks in those communities to get to the city centre and to Devonport dockyard. The third phase would see the Plymouth Metro extended to Tavistock. We know this is a long way off but the first two phases would have established a business model and showed passenger demand, that would help us pitch for the funding for the new line.
Who would pay for it?
Good question. You will have probably have seen me argue for a long-term rail plan for the south west. This would set out what we need as a region and the sequencing of that work. As part of this I want a Plymouth Metro included as local upgrades for our city. Just as Exeter has the Devon Metro and Cornwall is getting a new mid-Cornwall Metro. All rail work would be paid for by Great British Railways which is where we are bringing together train operating companies and Network Rail into a single publicly owned rail company. The current spending period for the railway – or control period – is seeing signal upgrades for our city’s railway and this will help create the option for a Metro service in the future. That’s good news. The next funding period is where I would want us to target for more spending to help deliver the Metro. However, some things like the path from Mount Gould to Laira Station could begin sooner if we can get local funding for projects like this – that helps make the project more deliverable and would sort out a path that needs a bit more love in the meantime.
It’s never going to happen/grumble
I get that there are folks on social media who delight in attacking good ideas but I’m ambitious for our city and that’s not my style. This is a big idea: creating a regular stopping service serving our entire city, opening up opportunities, and having a real long-term vision for our city. That’s hard. I see why folks haven’t done it before. There’s always someone to shoot it down or say “re-open the airport instead.” And I agree with re-opening the airport but that’s not a substitute for a frequent train service in Plymouth, as they know, and as you know. So, let’s do something very un-Plymouth, let’s be bold, talk up our city and make the case for the investment in rail we have long deserved and haven’t got.
What’s happening next.
I post about trains all year round. In a few week’s time I will be holding a public meeting in Laira and another in Mount Gould to explain more to local residents and get your initial views. We have a lot of work to do on this project still and I’ve been really pleased to work with GWR and Plymouth City Council on this for some time. I hope we can publish more details about the Plymouth Metro and the new station proposals as the work continues.
In the meantime, thank you for all the support to get this idea out there. Thanks in particular to Neil Hendy, the Labour councillor in Efford and Lipson that covers Laira and Mary Aspinall, the Labour councillor in Sutton and Mount Gould. Thanks for all the questions, and keep them coming, with more scrutiny we can develop even more robust plans that will help deliver faster journeys within Plymouth and open up a world of opportunities.
As I said when I launched this: The Plymouth metro will pass Laira, the only question is should it stop there? I think it should.