The first passenger service ran on the newly reopened Dartmoor Line between Okehampton and Exeter on November 17, three days ahead of its official reinstatement to the national network.
The commencement of a two-hourly service pattern by Great Western Railway on November 20 marks the return of regular services to Okehampton for the first time since their withdrawal in 1972.
The line was subsequently retained as a freight route to serve Meldon Quarry and since 1997 has been open to passenger services only on some summer Sundays.
The full reinstatement cost some £40 million and is the first reopening scheme to be completed under the Government’s Restoring Your Railway programme.
Network Rail has been praised for completing the necessary infrastructure works - including the laying of 11 miles of new track and installing 24,000 concrete sleepers - in just nine months and £10m under budget. This has been credited to the application of Rail Project SPEED approaches.
To read the full story, see RAIL 945
Comment as guest
Comments
Güntürk Üstün - 24/11/2021 03:19
Wonderful news indeed! After nearly 50 years, daily passenger rail services have returned to Okehampton. The Dartmoor Line which officially opened on 20 November 2021, is the first line to be reinstated under the Department for Transport’s "Restoring your Railway" initiative. After a huge team effort to make the reopening a reality, Network Rail, Great Western Railway (GWR) and partners look forward to welcoming their passengers aboard. With a journey time of approximately 40 minutes between Okehampton and Exeter, the Dartmoor Line provides truly great opportunities for work, study and leisure travel. Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Reply as guest
Paul Dabrowski - 24/11/2021 10:57
Just a shame than the intermediate station at Sampford Courtenay has, apparently, had to be sacrificed.
Reply as guest
Roy Simmons - 24/11/2021 11:10
Good news all round. My daughter and granddaughter used the Sunday service a couple of years back when holidaying in Okehampton. It's closure one of many poor decisions by Beeching now being realised 60 years later by officialdom.
Reply as guest
Susan Youds - 25/11/2021 07:50
I remember visiting Oakhampton for the first time back in the early 1980's with my then partner & I remember thinking what a tragedy it was that this beautiful little town in Devon called Oakehampton, had lost it's railway with Beeching's assault on the local Branch railways back in the early 1960's. I think we might have even taken a peak at the old booking hall back then on one visit to Oakehampton before it was restored just to get close to a beautiful old Country station & to look at an old timetable or something in the way of the bygone days when the train used to run there. We were both & still are railway enthusiasts & I love following old disused railway tracks in the Countryside. So good luck to the newly restored Dartmoor line & I look forward to visiting it at some point in the future after 50 years it would be amazing to see it all restored again. Congratulation to all who helped conserve & restore the old line to it's former glory.
Reply as guest