The Mid Cornwall Metro (MCM) is a £56.8million rail redevelopment project in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, United Kingdom. The project is designed to enhance coast-to-coast connectivity between the stations of and . Of the £56.8M, £50M is from the UK's Levelling Up Fund. It is a joint venture between

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...

and

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

. Many of the improvements are on the Atlantic Coast Line, such as restoring Newquay station' second platform, adding a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

at Tregoss Moor, and updating signalling. A total of ten new digital signals have been installed, mostly at the Newquay end of the line or at Tregoss Moor. Other improvements also involve the

Maritime Line The Maritime Line is a branch line railway in Cornwall that runs from the city of Truro to Falmouth. Since 2009, the line has run half-hourly trains in both directions between Truro railway station and Falmouth Docks railway station via the v ...

, including extending one train per hour to terminate in to Par railway station. These changes allow for the Atlantic Coast Line to be doubled to an hourly service, as well as allowing for journeys between Falmouth and

Newquay Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parishes in England, civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on t ...

without a transfer at

Truro railway station Truro railway station () serves the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. The station is on the Cornish Main Line and is the junction for the Maritime Line to Falmouth Docks railway station, Falmouth Docks. It is situated at milepost from , which ...

. Chancellor Rachel Reeves' scrapping of the Restoring Your Railways fund led to fears that some or all of the MCM would be cancelled, but the project is actually receiving almost £50M from the separate Levelling Up Fund. St Austell & Newquay MP Noah Law confirmed that there would be no impact on the development. The scheme is planned to take two years, between 2024 and 2026. The passing loop at Tregoss Moor was completed in March 2025. The second platform at Newquay had also been completed, and was not yet in use, as of March 2025.

Route

When the route is complete, trains will depart hourly from Newquay and pass through Par, St Austell station and

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

before arriving at Falmouth Docks, the terminus of the

Maritime line The Maritime Line is a branch line railway in Cornwall that runs from the city of Truro to Falmouth. Since 2009, the line has run half-hourly trains in both directions between Truro railway station and Falmouth Docks railway station via the v ...

. The full route to be opened in 2026 is: *Newquay * Quintrell Downs *

St Columb Road St Columb Road () is a small village near Fraddon and Indian Queens in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies half a mile (750m) from the A30 road. St Columb Road railway station is on the branch line from Par to Newquay. When it opened in ...

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational corporation, multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, ...

Bugle The bugle is a simple signaling brass instrument with a wide conical bore. It normally has no valves or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its natural harmonic notes, and pitch is controlled entirely by varying the air a ...

Luxulyan Luxulyan (; ), also spelt Luxullian or Luxulian, is a village and civil parish in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village lies four miles (6.5 km) northeast of St Austell and six miles (10 km) south of Bodmin. The population ...

*Par *St Austell *Truro * Perranwell * Penryn * Penmere * Falmouth Town *Falmouth Docks

References

External links

Project's website
* {{Railway stations in Cornwall Rail transport in Cornwall Falmouth, Cornwall Newquay

Route

See also

References

External links