AHEAD of the Dartmoor Line trains between Okehampton and Exeter, going hourly this week (Sunday, May 15), the Rail Minister, Wendy Morton, saw work that has been done on the track and at Okehampton.

The line reopened last November, restoring a regular, year-round service for the first time in almost 50 years and is part of the Government’s £500 million manifesto commitment to “Restore Your Railways”.

It was the first to reopen under the flagship programme and was fully restored in just nine months and delivered £10 million under budget, transforming a mothballed former freight railway to regular passenger services.

DOUBLE

The line has been hugely popular, with more than 50,000 journeys in the first 20 weeks since the line reopened, more than double the number predicted.

Passenger numbers at Crediton, the only other place where the train stops, have increased by 39 per cent against pre-pandemic levels.

The Minister explained: “The Restoring Your Railway Fund was launched in January 2020 to reinstate axed local services and restore closed stations, many of which were cut following Dr Beeching’s report on ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ in 1963.

“The fund is focused on delivering schemes that can level up the country, reconnect cut-off communities, improve access to jobs, homes and education and boost opportunity across the country, with a further £16m being committed to Restoring Your Railway projects in the south-west peninsula.”

This includes;

• £5m towards Wellington and Cullompton stations

• £7.88m towards Edginswell station (Torbay)

• £3.11m towards Marsh Barton station (Exeter)

• £50,000 towards Tavistock to Plymouth

• £50,000 towards Mid Cornwall Metro

For 15 days from the beginning of May, Network Rail’s team of engineers was working tirelessly, upgrading parts of the 14-mile stretch of Dartmoor Line. Along the line, at Fatherford and Coleford, engineers completed further improvements to the drainage and track bed to enable faster line speeds ready for the increase to hourly services.

GWR, Dartline Coaches and Devon County Council have also made sure that local transport is all coordinated, ensuring easy bus and train connections to the rest of the country are easily accessible from the Dartmoor Line.

This includes better bus links to Tavistock, seven days-a-week direct from Okehampton station, as well as the existing facilities for cycling and walking, enabling more people to explore this wonderful area.

More work is currently being undertaken on the station buildings to enable the restoration of the cafe and other facilities.

The Department for Transport, Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR) alongside project partners Devon County Council, Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership and Dartmoor Railway Association (DRA), have worked together to reopen this line ahead of time and under budget.

Benefitting from the application of Rail Project SPEED approaches, the Dartmoor Line has been transformed into a successful, full seven days-a-week passenger operation.

MP IN OKEHAMPTON

CENTRAL Devon MP Mel Stride visited Okehampton earlier this week to promote the launch of the hourly Dartmoor Line service to Exeter via Crediton.

Having helped to lead the campaign for the line for over a decade, Mr Stride spoke of having “goosebumps” when he rode on the Dartmoor Line for the first time last November and says the service has fully lived up to expectations.

He commented: “The Dartmoor Line really is achieving everything I hoped it would – it is providing a valuable service to local residents, it is taking cars off the A30 (cutting carbon emissions and reducing traffic into Exeter) and is improving access to training and job opportunities for a generation of young people.”

Trains now will run every hour, up from the two-hourly service that has been running for the past six months.

From Monday to Friday the first train will depart Okehampton at 7.25am, stop at Crediton at 7.48am, stop at Exeter St Davids at 8am, and arrive at Exeter Central at 8.05am.

The last train back gets into Okehampton at 9.55pm. The Saturday timetable is similar to weekdays and there is also an hourly service on a Sunday but the first train is not until 9.25am.

Mr Stride added: “The commencement of an hourly service, seven days-a-week, is yet another significant landmark for the Dartmoor Line.

“The mission now is to secure funding for a second station on the eastern edge of and I have again been in contact with Rail Minister Wendy Morton this week, making the case that a second station will ease congestion and deliver an even greater economic boost to our local economy.”

For more information and to book tickets visit: www.dartmoorline.com .