The TAS Partnership is celebrating the recent launch of Valuing the Tamar Valley Line – a study which TAS was commissioned to undertake by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership (DCRP) to quantify the value of the railway to communities in Cornwall and Devon. 
 
The passenger transport specialists set out a range of economic, environmental and social, as well as community-wide benefits of the railway, which runs between Gunnislake and Plymouth.  
 
“We used an alternative, largely community-based approach to the standard cost-benefit analysis to show the value to passengers, residents, businesses who use and benefit from the vitality of the line, setting out both monetised and non-monetised, wider value,” said John Atkins, TAS Principal Consultant who compiled the report.
 
Headline costed benefits of the railway:
•         £13m – overall value of the Tamar Valley Line per year calculated across numerous areas, from time and cost savings in using the line over other modes of transport to retail and leisure expenditure generated by passengers.
•         Value for passengers: £897,513 – value of cost savings (over other travel modes).
•         Economic Vitality - £2.9m – estimated retail expenditure a year.
•         Environmental Value - £118,955 – savings against environmental damage.
 
Headline non-monetised value of the line: 
•         Health – as part of active lifestyle, rail passengers drawing less on NHS resources.
•         Enhancing the social capital of Tamar Valley communities – accessing cultural and community assets.
•         Wellbeing of rail users – rail is proven to be a safer and less stressful mode than road transport, according to Government statistics.
•         Benefits for non-rail users – rail takes pressure off areas that suffer from issues of traffic congestion and parking.
 
The study was triggered by Gunnislake and Calstock’s Cornwall Councillor Dorothy Kirk who commented: “Our little railway, which must be one of the most beautiful to be found anywhere, is of vital importance to our communities, linking us to the rest of the world and providing access to employment, education, shopping and entertainment.  This study has gone into great depth proving just how key the line is to the people of the valley and the economy and thus help make the case for its improvement and development.”
 
DCRP Manager Richard Burningham, who commissioned the report said: “This is a really interesting study, the first anywhere that has looked at a rural line and sought to estimate the railway’s contribution in pretty much all ways to the communities it serves and the economy.   It very much underlines the importance of the Tamar Valley Line.”       
 
To read a summary of the Valuing the Tamar Valley Line report, please visit www.dcrp.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/valuing-the-tamar-valley-line-executive-summary.pdf