Local MP Sheryll Murray joined fellow South West MPs and Rail Minister Paul Maynard to launch the report ‘Closing the Gap’ prepared by the Peninsula Rail Task Force which outlined a 20 year plan for investment into the South West Peninsula’s strategic rail network.
Sheryll, along with some of her colleagues, faced some of the problems being experienced by train passengers on Monday when they were unable to reach Parliament by rail and had to, after many hours, abandon their rail journey, return to her car and do the journey by road. Many other passengers did not have this option.
The document is a 20 year plan for rail investment which has 3 main objectives, namely;
- Resilience and reliability
- Faster journey times
- Improved connectivity with sufficient capacity
In a statement after the launch Sheryll Murray said, “I welcome this report and its plan for action. This in no way detracts from the clear need for action now and following my dreadful journey on Monday I have made some suggestions on how customer experiences could be improved even when there is an issue.
“I will continue to raise this important issue and in particular the need for Resilience and reliability. The system we have at the moment is clearly not acceptable and we must do more.”