LAST week I drove from the Drake's statue roundabout in Tavistock to the Roborough roundabout in Plymouth. It took 15 minutes. The next day I drove from the proposed site of a new Tavistock railway station to the station at Gunnislake. This took seven minutes.

According to the timetable, the train from Plymouth takes 26 minutes to Bere Alston. It takes a further 20 minutes to Gunnislake — 46 minutes in total. The Ordnance Survey map shows Gunnislake as being much closer to Bere Alston than Tavistock, so Plymouth to Tavistock would take a minimum of 46 minutes, possibly quite a lot more. The promised hourly service is unreal; the return journey from Plymouth to Bere Alston takes 52 minutes, not allowing for passengers to get on or off. Would they lay on a flight for the rest?

Why on Earth would anybody drive across Tavistock to catch a train that would take at least 30 minutes more than the road trip to Roborough? Dedicated train buffs with time to spare could always nip up the road to Gunnislake, to park and ride there, as some people from Callington already do.

The re-opening of the railway between Tavistock and Plymouth was put forward as planning gain in return for the construction of 750 houses. In 2009 promotional leaflets were sent out with the Tavistock Times but not the East Cornwall Times. The people of Calstock and Gunnislake, whose railway line it is, and who do not benefit, as Tavistock does, from four buses an hour into Plymouth, were never formally informed, let alone consulted.

Devon County have shown arrogant disregard for the people of the Cornish bank. They have arranged no consultations in Calstock or Gunnislake. At a recent meeting with representatives of Devon County and the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership requested by Calstock Parish Council, we were told that the railway line would become primarily the Tavistock line, not the Gunnislake line because 'Tavistock is bigger'.

Assurances that trains can serve both Tavistock and Gunnislake are full of uncertainties. Even talk of a shuttle between Gunnislake and Bere Alston, raises serious concerns:

Would the train from Tavistock have guaranteed space for passengers from Gunnislake and Calstock? It would be ridiculous to board at Gunnislake and find yourself stranded in Bere Alston.

Would it really be viable to have a train and its crew sitting around in Gunnislake and Bere Alston doing nothing but wait for the next service? It seems doubtful.

Is there the rolling stock to do this anyway?

When, after a few years, passenger numbers for the Gunnislake to Bere Alston section were deemed to be insufficient (and how could they not be, when you take away Bere Alston, Bere Ferrers and the five Plymouth stations from the total?) would the line be deemed unviable and be closed down?

If the demand from the influx of population in Tavistock were below predicted levels, could the whole Tamar Valley Line be closed, leaving everybody worse off?

I seriously believe that this issue should be the subject of a proper public inquiry, at which all implications could be examined and assessed. Not to hold such an inquiry would be thoroughly irresponsible.

Dorothy Kirk

Calstock Road

Gunnislake