AVOCET LINE
RAIL USERS GROUP
About Us
Founded in 2007 the Avocet Line Rail Users Group is a membership organisation now with around 200 members. Put simply the aim of the Group is to represent the interests of users of the line and to work for improvements to services and facilities. We explain below how we do this, what we have achieved and what we still aspire to achieve. Perhaps you can help us in this endeavour by joining the Group.
Our Objectives
The objectives of the Avocet Line Rail Users Group are to:
- Represent the interests of users and potential users of rail services on, and connecting with, the Avocet Line from Exmouth to Exeter St Davids;
- Act as a non-party political and non-commercial forum for the exchange of information relating to the needs and interests of this area’s rail users;
- Bring to the notice of authorities concerned the needs and interests of Avocet Line rail users and press for action where it is required;
- Act as a consultative body on behalf of Avocet Line rail users with the aforementioned authorities.
What we do
From the outset ALRUG has had a policy of direct engagement with all the key players involved with the railway: Great Western Railway (GWR), who operate the trains; Network Rail, who own the track and stations; Devon County Council; the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership (DCRP) and a number of local, regional and national passenger and rail industry bodies. This involves discussions with people across the industry (at every level), regular face to face meetings with GWR managers, attendance at industry stakeholder briefings, membership of local authority working groups and so on.
ALRUG conducts passenger counts on behalf of GWR, funded by DCRP, and analyses ticket and footfall data. It is involved in all the consultation exercises on local service changes.
ALRUG also organises meetings for its members on a wide range of railway topics, with a reputation for getting the most senior and influential speakers. For more information visit our Events page,
What we've achieved
ALRUG has played a pivotal role in the major improvements to the line since 2007 including:
- achieving Community Rail status for the line.
- a long campaign for improvements to Sunday services which has eventually culminated in a half-hourly service throughout the day on Sundays.
- establishing minimum standards for our stations leading to a number of improvements in station facilities.
- winning more than £150,000 in grants for station improvements.
- getting additional services Monday to Saturday to extend the half hourly timetable into the late evening.
- better bus services when the line is closed for engineering work.
Our Aspirations
We published our first manifesto in 2010, reflecting (as we described it at the time) “a litany of grumbles to be addressed, starting with overcrowding, inadequate rolling stock, ability to buy tickets before the journey, lack of passenger information – particularly when things are going wrong, poor station facilities and so on”. Our second manifesto, published in 2015, recorded some improvements and brought our aspirations up to date, but noted that many of the original grumbles still remained. It was our intention to bring this up to date in 2020 but the pandemic intervened. Since then the upheavals in the way the railway is organised and financed has made it difficult to form realistic long-term objectives, though it remains our intention to update the manifesto when we can. Suffice it to say that the “litany of grumbles” remains largely unchanged …..
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