Dartmoor Line is set to reopen on November 20
ALMOST 50 years since regular train services linking the Devon town of Okehampton with Exeter were withdrawn, Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR) are set to reopen the Dartmoor Line ahead of schedule on November 20. Preparatory work by Network Rail has been underway since the start of the year as the route has been upgraded for its new role. It is the first line to be reopened to regular passenger services under the Government’s Restoring Your Railway programme, with the Department for Transport providing £40 million of funding.
The route will connect Exeter St Davids, Crediton and Okehampton, with a total journey time of about 40 minutes, and around half of the services using the line will carry on to Exeter Central station.
The initial timetable will see eight trains in both directions throughout the day, with a service operating roughly every two hours, although GWR states that service frequencies on the line will increase to an hourly service from next spring.
Network Rail engineers have laid more than 11 miles of new track, installed some 24,000 concrete sleepers and laid 29,000 tonnes of ballast as part of the project. Repairs have also been carried out to 21 structures along the route, including four bridges, and other preparatory works, such as vegetation clearance, earth and drainage works, have been carried out. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The project, funded by over £40 million from the Department for Transport, is part of the wider campaign to reverse catastrophic cuts to the rail network primarily led by the Beeching axe. The work has been a successful collaboration between the DFT, Network Rail, GWR, Devon County Council, Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, local campaigners and MPS.” Mark Hopwood, GWR managing director, said: “This has been a key aspiration for the community and the rail industry for some time, and today is a significant day for everyone who has been involved. Their support and advocacy over the years has helped deliver a fantastic new service for customers, which we hope will grow from strength to strength.” Passenger services on the route were withdrawn by British Rail in June 1972. The line remained in use to serve Meldon Quarry, situated west of Okehampton, a supplier of railway ballast and related materials.
The line between Coleford Junction and Meldon Quarry was sold at the time of privatisation in the 1990s to the quarry owner, now known as Aggregate Industries. Heritage services operated over the line for a time, but these ended last year. The line was reacquired by Network Rail earlier this year.