PRIME Minister David Cameron has said the Government will find the funding to back the region’s bid for railway improvement as the Peninsula Rail Task Force call for crucial funding for rail studies.

The Peninsula Rail Task Force (PRTF) has been urging South West MPs to support calls for funding for studies being conducted into rail connectivity, which are vital to the completion of a full PRTF report due this summer. PRTF’s original funding for the report from Network Rail and the Department for Transport has been pulled. There is also no further funding for rail development in the South West until 2019.

Their calls for funding have been supported by Devon Chamber of Commerce and the Devon and Cornwall Business Council.

The PRTF has been looking at how to improve the South West’s rail network following the storm damage at Dawlish in 2014 that led to the closure of the rail line into Devon and Cornwall.

Last year the PRTF published interim plans for improving the region’s rail network in its report ‘On Track - the 20 year plan interim report’.

In this report, the PRTF highlights a three point plan — a resilient and reliable railway, reduced journey times to improve connectivity to and from the South West peninsula, and sufficient capacity, quality and comfort.

The northern route through Okehampton and Tavistock is described as being ‘crucial’ to the capacity and quality aspect of the three-point plan.

The final report to be published this summer will turn its key findings into a programme of work that would transform rail connectivity for the region.

In a letter to the transport minister Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin, Tim Jones, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, said the South West would be at a ‘severe disadvantage’ should no funding be found to complete the studies or provide development of the South West’s rail infrastructure.

He said: ‘Our connectivity is pivotal to our economy and we have been enduring a legacy of minimum investment for many years. Poor rail links have impacted on inward investment, business confidence and a host of other factors, all of which have acted as a brake on our economy.

‘Resilience, faster journey times and capacity are vital to our economic growth plans. Without the funding to assess the potential gains from faster journey times, the PRTF’s business case to government is lacking vital detail.’

Chair of the PRTF, Cllr Andrew Leadbetter said: ‘When we were invited by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State to put forward our plans for the South West rail network, we were pleased that our issues of poor connectivity were finally being recognised.

‘We have been determined to put forward a sound business case. We know we’re up against a lot of competition and we know we have to show real economic returns. The West Midlands has recently had £5-million of funds to develop its transport strategy whereas to date, all our work has been funded through the local authorities. There is a clear inequality here.

‘The two studies are vital to our report, which is due this summer. There is a very small window of opportunity to get them done in time and to date Network Rail has no funding for them. So, we are asking the Secretary of State to intervene and ensure his departments are able to deliver, as we are doing. It’s surely reasonable to expect that we have the tools we need to do what he has asked of us?

‘We have had many warm words about the importance of connectivity and how it has the power to transform the economy.

‘There is a huge irony in that we are expecting new rolling stock in 2017, but we will not be able to benefit to the fullest with shorter journey times because this work has not been done. It seems as if the Government is determined to leave the South West till last on the connectivity agenda and that is simply unacceptable.’

In Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Mr Cameron said that the government ‘needs to find an answer to this and we need to find the funding to make it work. I had an excellent meeting with the South West PRTF, which has been working closely with the Government. I will make sure that we continue to liaise closely with it. We can’t have happen what happened in the past, where a problem on our railways led to the peninsula being cut off.’