The Anonymous Widower

Paddington And Minehead By Train

Two projects announced in the last six months may make this a possibility.

  • FirstGroup’s Paddington and Paignton Service
  • The West Somerset Tidal Lagoon

Neither project has the full permissions it needs, but if Lumo do stop at Taunnton and the West Somerset Tidal Lagoon is built, if could open up an interesting possibility.

In Thoughts On Lumo’s Proposed Paddington And Paignton Service, I stated that a train could take two hours between  Paddington and Taunton, if it went for a fast non-stop run to Bath Spar station.

In MP Pushes For Tidal Lagoon In Bristol Channel, I said this.

I believe that for the lagoon project to be complete, the West Somerset Railway needs to be turned into a fully-operational branch line between Minehead and Taunton to improve access for residents, visitors and workers to Minehead and other places in West Somerset.

Surely, with a quick change of train, passengers could be in Minehead thirty minutes after arriving at Taunton.

In recent years several new branch lines have open in the UK and been given time to attract new passengers.

  • The Borders Railway to Tweedbank
  • Merseyrail to Headbolt Lane
  • The Northumberland Line to Ashington
  • ScotRail to Leven.
  • The Dartmouth Line to Okehampton

None appear to be in any danger of being closed.

I very much feel, that if the West Somerset Railway, ran a full service between Minehead and Taunton, it would follow the same pattern.

February 3, 2025 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

MP Pushes For Tidal Lagoon In Bristol Channel

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

Building a tidal lagoon in the Bristol Channel could provide clean energy for 120 years, an MP has said.

These three paragraphs give more details.

The proposed West Somerset Lagoon, which would cost £10bn to build, would run nine miles (14km) from Minehead to Watchet in Somerset.

Its lifespan would be twice that of a nuclear power plant, said Tiverton and Minehead MP Rachel Gilmour.

Mrs Gilmour said she will soon be discussing the proposal with ministers. If the project is pursued, it could be up and running by 2038 – bringing jobs and financial benefits to the area.

The project already has a web site, with this mission statement.

The West Somerset Tidal Lagoon is a proposed Tidal Range power scheme, that aims to harness the energy of the tides to provide zero carbon renewable energy. It is strategically located on the southern coast of the Bristol Channel Basin between Minehead and Watchet to take advantage of the world’s second highest tidal range and will become the UK’s largest sustainable energy project.

This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the coast between Minehead and Watchet.

Note.

  1. Minehead station is indicated by the blue arrow in the North-West of the map.
  2. Watchet station is indicated by the blue lettering on the Eastern edge of the map.
  3. The West Somerset Railway links the two stations and connects them to the Bristol and Exeter Line at Norton Fitzwarren station.

It looks like the sea wall of the lagoon will curve between Minehead and Watchet.

The West Somerset Railway

This OpenRailwayMap shows the whole West Somerset Railway.

Note.

  1. Minehead station is in the North-West corner of the map.
  2. Norton Fitzwarren station is indicated by the blue arrow in the South-East corner of the map, where the West Somerset Railway joins the main line between Exeter and Bristol.
  3. Taunton station on the main line with trains all over the country is a few miles to the East of Norton Fitzwarren station.

I believe that for the lagoon project to be completed, the West Somerset Railway needs to be turned into a fully-operational branch line from Taunton to improve access for residents, visitors and workers to Minehead and other places in West Somerset.

Large projects like these need large numbers of workers to be completed.

Less disruption to local residents and businesses is caused if a park and ride site is set up. Sizewell C is setting up two from the nearby East Suffolk Line, using hydrogen-powered buses.

Sizewell C also intends to bring in heavy equipment and construction materials by rail from Ipswich and Lowestoft.

The West Somerset Tidal Lagoon could use the railway to bring in heavy loads.

If the West Somerset Railway is going to be used to ease the construction of the lagoon , then this should be properly to connected to Taunton first.

 

 

February 1, 2025 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , , | 3 Comments