Getting reconnected

Visit Plymouth: National Express is stepping up its services to the South West in a bid to help stranded rail passengers. In light of the damage to rail lines in the South West caused by the recent storms, the UK's largest coach operator has today (Friday, 7 February) added five new express services to cope with extra demand already seen from the region. Starting from Monday (10 February), the new express services will run directly between Plymouth, Heathrow and London, maintaining a transport link for passengers who normally rely on the train. The fastest services will reach London in four hours - quicker than the rail replacement alternatives. With the disruption to the railway from Cornwall and parts of Devon likely to continue for many weeks, National Express has also committed to add as many coach seats to its existing services as are needed to meet demand, and keep its prices fixed at standard rates.

Network Rail chooses Dawlish alternative route: Network Rail has chosen an additional alternative railway route to the storm-stricken Dawlish line along the Devon coast, BBC News can reveal. The route would head from Okehampton to Plymouth via Tavistock and go through parts of Dartmoor National Park. There is no timescale for the plan, which Network Rail concluded in outline proposals last year would cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Of the three alternatives, two of them are in south Devon - including the Teign Valley route, via Christow and Heathfield - and the so-called Dawlish Avoiding Line, which was promoted in the 1930s but was never built. Network Rail is believed to be only considering the Okehampton-Tavistock-Plymouth route. Trains can already run to Meldon, west of Okehampton, on a freight line and there are currently plans to reopen a stretch of line connecting Tavistock southwards to Bere Alston. The route between Meldon and Tavistock is being considered by Network Rail. Damage to the track at Dawlish means the line between Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbot is not expected to reopen until mid-April at the earliest, and in the meantime buses are replacing trains. However, despite talk of alternatives, Network Rail said it was committed to a permanent restoration of the Dawlish track. BBC DEVON

Plymouth City Council: Immediate and substantial action from the Government is needed on the South West rail line in the wake of the collapse of the sea wall at Dawlish, says the Council leader Tudor Evans. Councillor Evans said: "Our economy cannot be allowed to hang by the thread that is our precarious rail network, which is once again under water today. Promises made about rail resilience funding are as empty as the void that is now where the Dawlish wall used to be." Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans: "This is beyond critical. Plymouth is the 15th largest city in the country and we have one single rail line. And that line is now dangling over the sea. Last year's prolonged flooding episode on the network cost the region's businesses £130 million over just two weeks. I fear that the level of disruption we are facing now could have a catastrophic effect. "Here we are 12 months on from the last time the peninsula's transport network came to a grinding halt and what has happened? Nothing. How many letters do we have to send? How many delegations do we have to organise to make the government listen?"

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What are they building at Charing Cross? Anyone who uses Charing Cross station in recent weeks cannot help to have noticed that changes are underfoot, but maybe not realise just how much is about to change

Cetral Station: Roadworks near Central Station mean diversions to buses heading out of town. Buses heading eastbound into the city centre are unaffected.