WHILE I am a resident of Plymouth, I am technical advisor to Peninsula Rail Group and Destination Okehampton and I felt I had to write to comment on some of the statements being made regarding our railways. The South West Peninsula Rail Task Force (SWPRTF), which includes Plymouth, Devon, Exeter and Torbay, put forward the three point plan for spending on our railways. This included a northern route and 'Dawlish Avoiding Line' (DAL). It seems to me that the moment that the DAL was not mentioned by the Government as the preferred route, Labour politicians from Plymouth and Exeter slated the northern route, despite supporting it as part of the three point plan! Political game playing perhaps, because they only stand a realistic chance of seats in the two cities? This really is not the way forward. Ed Miliband was in Plymouth and interviewed on the BBC but was not prepared to share his view for the railways of the peninsula. He spoke in very general terms and as Andrew Leadbetter, chair of SWPRTF, said to David Cameron on his visit 'We need more than warm words — we need action'. There are still some falsehoods that need correcting. The current route must remain the main line. In the draft consultation of the western route, Plymouth will need two trains to London an hour by 2019. One of these can be a fast service and with improvements at Reading, will give a journey time of two hours 58 minutes from Plymouth. Also two trains an hour from Penzance to Plymouth, one just to Plymouth and the other to London. Some selective stopping patterns in Cornwall for the London train would reduce times from there further. The northern route will not add 40 minutes to journey times. It may add a few minutes, if any. It will open up a new stream of passengers to rail and regenerate a large swathe of Devon and North Cornwall. Keeping Plymouth and Cornwall connected by rail saves money. The study from the Devon Maritime Forum showed the South West lost up to £1.2-billion whilst Dawlish was closed. A DAL on its own does not guarantee connectivity for when the line is closed between Newton Abbot and Plymouth. Against this £875-million seems a bargain and that is worst case cost. I believe that those in Plymouth and Exeter that slate the northern route are misguided and short sighted in using the rail routes as a political football. What is needed is to address the three point plan practically and in a measured way. First, strengthen the current line with breakwaters for Dawlish and rock bolting for Teignmouth cliffs etc. Second, rebuild the northern route first to retain connectivity and regenerate those areas mentioned. Third, look at building the DAL, if needed. By this time the deficit would have been paid off and more funds are available. This is the most pragmatic approach with party politics taken out. Chris Bligh Plymouth COMMITTEE-crippled local government (so called), Whitehall and the Palace of Westminster all seem to be determined to continue their years of discussion and dozens of reports on the Bere Alston-Tavistock and Exeter-Okehampton-Plymouth rail links well into the next parliament. Strangely, in all this avoidance of decision making, there has been no mention of the concentration of light industry and large retail stores in the Marsh Mills area of Plymouth. There are now many such between Coypool and Valley Roads employing a large number of people. They are entirely dependent on buses and cars to get to and from work. It is surely time to provide a rail terminus station on the site of the nearby largely redundant marshalling yard. The additional cost to either scheme would be much less, mile for mile, than the HS2 link with the Midlands and it would be a new, not an additional rail link. G Kirkpatrick Tavistock