Atlantic Coast Line, Cornwall
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The Atlantic Coast Line is a railway line from Par, near St Austell, to Newquay in Cornwall, UK. The branch line travels from the English Channel at Par, to the Atlantic Ocean at Newquay.
The stations on the route are listed below.
- Par
- Luxulyan
- Bugle
- Roche
- St Columb Road
- Quintrell Downs
- Newquay
Local passenger services are operated by First Great Western, who also operate a limited number of through trains from London Paddington that run non-stop from Par to Newquay. A few summer weekends also see holiday trains operated by Virgin Trains from the North to Newquay, which also do not stop at intermediate stations.
A passing loop is situated just south of Bugle, originally built for the china clay freight trains going to Goonburrow freight yard. These days it is also used for the summer trains to pass each other, so one train can enter the line before the other is out. The loop uses semaphore signals.
The eastern section of the line sees a large amount of china clay freight traffic operated by EWS. EWS owns a depot to service locomotives, which is situated at St Blazey, north of Par.
Between Roche and St Columb Road the line passes through Goss Moor nature reserve. The bridge over the A30 road has been the site of many road accidents. At various times in the past it was proposed to divert the line, so that it starts from St Austell railway station, and continues via the old Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway freight-only line, joining the current route at St Dennis. This proposal has now been dropped as a suitable new route for the road has been found that will avoid the bridge without causing too much damage to the nature reserve..
[edit] Landslide
On 30 December 2006 a landslide occurred on an embankment on the branchline, near St Blazey this occurred due to heavy rainfall, this blocked the line to FGW Passenger services and EWS Chinaclay freight trains. A bus ran to cover for the passenger service. The branchline reopened on 8 January 2007.
