November start for Dartmoor line services
Regular, all-year-round services to restart for first time since 1972.
REGULAR timetabled services between Okehampton and Exeter are to commence on November 20. The restoration of all-year-round services is the first ‘reopening’ under the Government’s Restoring Your Railway programme and will cost more than £40m.
Trains will initially run every two hours between Exeter and Okehampton, but from the May 2022 timetable the frequency will increase to hourly. All trains will call at Crediton and selected trains will call at Newton St
Cyres on request.
Since the beginning of the year, teams of Network Rail engineers have been busy laying 11 miles of new track from Coleford Junction (north of Crediton) with 24,000 concrete sleepers and 29,000 tonnes of ballast. Repairs have also been made to 21 structures along the route, including four bridges, and a range of works such as vegetation clearance, earth and drainage works and fencing improvements have been carried out.
It is a remarkable achievement in nine months, particularly during a pandemic. More work will be carried out over the winter including further work on the station buildings to enable the restoration of the cafe and other facilities.
50 year closure
The Dartmoor line first opened in 1871, and closed to regular services in 1972 but remained as a freight-only line to extract aggregates from Meldon Quarry until 2011 when the quarry was mothballed. Occasional summer Sunday services have operated between Okehampton and Exeter.
Under the auspices of the Dartmoor Railway, heritage trains operated between Okehampton and Coleford from 1997, but in February 2020 Dartmoor Rail entered administration, and in March this year Network Rail took over the line.
GWR will operate services and timetabled weekday departures from Okehampton at 07.20, 09.24, 11.25. 13.24, 15.24, 18.20, 20.22 and 22.18. From Exeter departures are at 06.29*, 08.34, 11.02, 12.21*, 14.32, 17.04,
19.08 and 20.52* (departures are from Exeter Central unless asterisked, which are from St Davids). There are eight return trains on a Saturday at slightly different times, and seven return workings on a Sunday. These times are applicable until December 11, from when a revised timetable will be effective. An anytime day return will cost £8 and journey time is around 40mins.
Okehampton will operate as an unstaffed station, with card-only ticket machines,
CCTV coverage and a pay & display car park. Looking ahead, a funding bid has been submitted to open a Parkway station east of Okehampton, but there are no plans to open any other stations on the route.