TOWN council working party Destination Okehampton held a special meeting last week to try to establish a case for the resurrection of rail services to the town. The aim of the meeting was to formulate a response to Network Rail's remit for its West of Exeter Route Resilience Study, currently being carried out by over a dozen national and regional organisations. The study group will steer the strategic review on the viability of three long-term options —retaining the coastal route at Dawlish, building a second line as an alternative to the Dawlish line and re-routing the main line completely, abandoning the coastal line. Chair of Destination Okehampton Dr Michael Ireland said that Okehampton Town Council needs to work with Devon County Council to give legitimacy to the town's desire for a complementary route from Plymouth to Exeter passing through Okehampton. Chris Bligh, a rail expert from Plymouth, and advisor to the group, told the meeting that the most important factor in getting the Okehampton option rebuilt was the benefit to cost ratio. This was worked out by taking the cost of the railway over 60 years, times the income received. Mr Bligh said: 'We need to factor that cost into our proposal. The recent closures cost money in lost business, £60,000 to 70,000 a day for replacement coach transport plus extra staffing costs of people escorting travellers safely onto buses outside stations. 'Using the repayment provision for Section 4 and Section 8 refunds, the public claimed £1.5-million in fares. Additional to this is the irritation factor for the public, especially commuters unable to get to work or home in a reasonable time. 'A totla of £16-million was paid to train companies for lost business, borne by the tax payer. The vast proportion of this costing would be avoided if people could travel by an alternative route.' The case for Okehampton becoming a transport hub for West Devon, Torridge and North Cornwall was put by Cllr Terry Cummings who said: 'If Okehampton was a transport hub with a large park and ride at Sourton, with a coach service from surrounding villages and towns as far as Launceston, this would be a tremendous boost not just for commuters but also the tourism trade.' Councillor Lesley Moore, who attended representing Bude and Stratton Town Council, supported Cllr Cummings' point, saying: 'Bude lost a lot of visitors when the railway was closed, the line would be a definite asset to tourism.' It was agreed to prepare a report for the Network Rail study management group, arguing the case for the second option, building a line through Okehampton as an alternative. Businesses from Okehampton, Holsworthy and Bude will all give responses as to how the line could improve their business, and examine the demand from business people, students and general commuters for the line. The report will also provide a realistic cost to benefit ratio for the line, assess environmental and heritage impacts and explore the tourism potential. The report will be completed by the end of May.