| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 15:14, 11th June 2026 |     |
Apologies if covered elsewhere.
Plymouth MP Luke Pollard touting a "Plymouth Metro" starting with half-hourly services between Ivybridge and Bere Alston, new stations at Plympton and Laira, followed ultimately by Tavistock reopening.
Plymouth MP Luke Pollard touting a "Plymouth Metro" starting with half-hourly services between Ivybridge and Bere Alston, new stations at Plympton and Laira, followed ultimately by Tavistock reopening.
This proposal wasn't covered elsewhere, Noggin, so thank you for posting here about it.
As it has encouraged some discussion, I have expanded the heading of your topic, to hopefully attract even more attention from readers searching for key words, for example.
CfN.
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Mark A at 14:40, 11th June 2026 | |
... though, given that this is just part of the station building, and that extensive station buildings aren't something that are so useful to the railway now, its future may be that it's retained as a set of trackside dwellings.
Mark
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Mark A at 14:29, 11th June 2026 | |
Ah, here it is. This could be land-banked for the Dartmoor northern route, but in the short term earn its keep for the industry - and keep itself tidy and secure - as rented housing.
Mark
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173859041#/
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Andy at 12:53, 11th June 2026 | |
Yup, posturing should be reserved for Tavistock (and regarding Tavistock shouldn't be posturing, there should be progress).
Mark
Mark
Totally agree. One single focus on reinstating the 5 miles from Bere Alston to Tavistock, with increased frequency Bere Alston-Plymouth North Road as an added benefit, assuming alternate hourly services from Tavistock and Gunnislake to Plymouth. Incidentally, the former LSWR station in Tavistock is up for sale....(maybe it doesn't include any trackbed, though).
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Noggin at 11:50, 11th June 2026 | |
Looking from "afar" - it strikes me that Tavistock could really do with a metro rail re-opening and as it's so close to Plymouth and part of the same economic area ... but once you get to St Budeaux, the line is paralleled by a good road all the way to North Road, from where the road usefully branches away to serve the city centre. There are, similarly, good bus service from much closer to the centre out past Laira to Marsh Mills. That does not necessarily rule it out, but there are challenges in providing something that will overlap for so much of the way with other provision already made.
You can say the same thing about the Severn Beach Line in Bristol though.
It goes a long way round, Temple Meads is in an awkward location for many and almost all of the stations are well served by frequent bus services.
But history proves that almost every time the service frequency has been increased, the number of users has increased. It's still 2 tph for much of the day with slow diesel units but the ridership is 8x in the last 30 years. The reality is that for a significant part of the city's population it is more useful than bus alone, not to mention that it feeds into the wider regional/national rail network.
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Mark A at 11:01, 11th June 2026 | |
Yup, posturing should be reserved for Tavistock (and regarding Tavistock shouldn't be posturing, there should be progress).
Mark
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by IndustryInsider at 10:47, 11th June 2026 | |
To an extent this is a local MP posturing and he would be wise not to raise expectations.
Yes, to a very large extent I would suggest.
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by TaplowGreen at 07:00, 11th June 2026 | |
Looking from "afar" - it strikes me that Tavistock could really do with a metro rail re-opening and as it's so close to Plymouth and part of the same economic area ... but once you get to St Budeaux, the line is paralleled by a good road all the way to North Road, from where the road usefully branches away to serve the city centre. There are, similarly, good bus service from much closer to the centre out past Laira to Marsh Mills. That does not necessarily rule it out, but there are challenges in providing something that will overlap for so much of the way with other provision already made.
Absolutely right.
Areas like Plympton, Plymstock and Laira have excellent bus services into and out of the City Centre.
Tavistock does stand out however as being "out on a limb"
To an extent this is a local MP posturing and he would be wise not to raise expectations.
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by grahame at 06:05, 11th June 2026 | |
Looking from "afar" - it strikes me that Tavistock could really do with a metro rail re-opening and as it's so close to Plymouth and part of the same economic area ... but once you get to St Budeaux, the line is paralleled by a good road all the way to North Road, from where the road usefully branches away to serve the city centre. There are, similarly, good bus service from much closer to the centre out past Laira to Marsh Mills. That does not necessarily rule it out, but there are challenges in providing something that will overlap for so much of the way with other provision already made.
| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by trainbuff at 23:03, 10th June 2026 | |
My concern would be the availabilty of paths without degrading other services to make a CLOCKFACE service feasible, a metro service would need this as an essential. I'd also be concerned if I lived in Calstock or Gunnislake about reduced service to those destinations. A passing loop somewhere on the route would seemingly be necessary too.
As would a crossover at Ivybridge| Re: Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by RailCornwall at 21:26, 10th June 2026 | |
My concern would be the availabilty of paths without degrading other services to make a CLOCKFACE service feasible, a metro service would need this as an essential. I'd also be concerned if I lived in Calstock or Gunnislake about reduced service to those destinations. A passing loop somewhere on the route would seemingly be necessary too.
| Plymouth Metro - Ivybridge to Bere Alston via Plympton and Laira, then Tavistock Posted by Noggin at 11:20, 8th June 2026 | |
Apologies if covered elsewhere.
Plymouth MP Luke Pollard touting a "Plymouth Metro" starting with half-hourly services between Ivybridge and Bere Alston, new stations at Plympton and Laira, followed ultimately by Tavistock reopening.
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/london-overground-style-plymouth-metro-10999026
Not my neck of the woods, but I suspect that it needs a bit more than just rolling stock, at the very least a turnback siding at Ivybridge.
That said, it's a "playbook" that worked fairly well in Bristol - upping the Gloucester service to half-hourly made the rail service from places like Yate much more usable, bolstering the business case for new stations like Charfield and reopening the Portishead line.
