A BARNSTAPLE man has been elected chair of the Devon and Cornwall regional branch of Railfuture, an organisation that campaigns for better rail services.

Tim Steer is an advocate for improving and modernising the Tarka line between Barnstaple and Exeter via Crediton.

He also wants to see it extended to Bideford, which has been cut off from the rail network since it was axed in the Beeching cuts in 1965.

“I am delighted and honoured to say that I have been elected as Railfuture's Devon and Cornwall regional branch chair,” Mr Steer said.

“My ACE Rail campaign which started in mid-2021 has been to upgrade the existing North Devon line so that users get a better faster service that is doubled in frequency, and then to extend the line’s services to Bideford in the deprived area of Torridge.

“This work is now being taken forward by the Northern Devon Railway Development Alliance that I helped initiate in late December 2023.

“What the Bideford line will look like and where exactly it will go is now in the hands of independent specialist advisers and representatives of over two dozen partner and stakeholder organisations in the still-growing alliance.

“As new chair for Devon and Cornwall, I will now look at all rail campaigns across the region and am ready to support them.

“For too long, I feel, railways campaigns have often been seen as the sole preserve of train enthusiasts, so instead my emphasis will be actively campaigning to represent the wider public who already use and want to use the railway.

“I will represent Cornwall as well as Devon and help passenger and freight campaigns get through the national transport appraisal guidance and other processes to become new regional campaigns that the public and their elected representatives can get behind.”