via Okehampton and Tavistock
Reopening the route between Exeter and Plymouth which runs round the north side of Dartmoor, via Okehampton and Tavistock, has long been an aspiration of rail campaigners. This would be an additional railway route to that via Dawlish, Newton Abbot and Totnes. On 19 March 2021 the government took the first step by announcing that regular services from Exeter to Okehampton would be restored in 2021, as the first reopening to be completed by the Restoring Your Railway initiative.In May 2023 recent and possible progress was considered in this video: "Which lines could return on the former West Devon railway network?" Note especially Devon County Council's Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Cllr. Andrea Davis, at 01:42-02:41. (The bid mentioned at 02:00-02:25 was successful, with a Strategic Outline Business Case submitted to the DfT in autumn 2022 and its approval given by Rail Minister Huw Merriman on 4th October 2023.)
Reopening the railway from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton would:
- Provide an alternative route for when the sea disrupts normal Exeter to Plymouth train services via Dawlish and Teignmouth, and/or if land slipping and debris flows have to be dealt with on the section of line between Parsons Tunnel and Teignmouth. In addition the tracks are steep and tightly curved on the railway between Newton Abbot and Plymouth, potentially leading to more track maintenance and temporary line closure. Whilst passengers can be transferred to bus replacement services, these make travelling particularly difficult for those with disability or simply carrying luggage. For short notice emergencies it is not always possible to arrange enough buses and they cannot substitute for rail freight movements or the overnight sleeper service from Penzance to Paddington. The alternative Okehampton route is needed and has been needed for these reasons ever since its closure as a through route in 1968.
- Provide more line capacity for developing both passenger and rail freight services west of Exeter to Plymouth, Cornwall and Torbay. On the existing route, between Exeter and Newton Abbot, space on the tracks for long distance trains is competing against the need for local trains to stop at places such as Dawlish and Teignmouth. With more overall line capacity west of Exeter reopened/new stations could be considered for Exminster and perhaps Bishopsteignton.
- Provide a railhead at Okehampton for large parts of West Devon and North Cornwall that are many miles from the existing rail network. Places that would benefit include Holsworthy and Launceston and the Cornish coast between Bude, Boscastle and Tintagel. On the reopened route Tavistock would regain rail services and a commuter link into Plymouth avoiding the mostly single carriageway and congested A386 road.
Unlike the work at Dawlish, which is just adding to the existing sea wall, the work at Teignmouth is a major civil engineering project for the sea wall and cliffs that is likely to result in disruption to rail services. If the full route between Exeter, Okehampton Tavistock and Plymouth were reopened before work on the cliffs at Teignmouth is undertaken then services could be maintained between Exeter and Plymouth.
The route
The Okehampton route from Exeter to Plymouth is 57¾ miles long compared to 52 miles via Dawlish and Newton Abbot. The original route from St. Budeaux Victoria Road into Plymouth via Ford was just over half a mile longer than that used today via Keyham for Bere Alston to Plymouth trains. This alternative route into Plymouth made sense when the new Lydford to Devonport route was opened in 1890, as today's Keyham route was then still partly single track and under the control of the rival Great Western Railway. Today the Ford route trackbed has been lost to around 150 houses and the City College on the Devonport station site. In addition the Ford viaduct was demolished in 1986.The distances in the table below are compiled using data from the Network Rail Sectional Appendix August 2020 and from other sources.
All is quiet on Sunday 6th May 2018 at Brentor, 53 years since closure of Devon’s second main line railway between Exeter and Plymouth.
Photo shows the closed Brentor station between Okehampton and Tavistock, View south towards Bere Alston and Plymouth on 6th May 2018. The reopened railway could be restored without running through the original station here, by using the former trackbed of the parallel Great Western line (Launceston to Plymouth) closed 31st December 1962.
The last passenger trains ran on Sunday 5th May 1968. Then just 9 months later the Dawlish route was blocked by snow and the closed Okehampton route, still with track in place, was more easily cleared for a freight service to run.
Since then the need for the Okehampton route has been demonstrated time and time again and most spectacularly during the 2 month 2014 closure of the Dawlish route. This was the result of the sea wall collapse there. Almost without fail the Okehampton route is needed several times a year for diverting trains. Most often this is when the Dawlish route is closed by high tides or by weekend work on the track. Passengers can be directed to bus replacement services, but the Penzance to London Paddington sleeper service cannot run and too few or too many trains can be trapped west of the blocked route.
Every weekday the line is needed for commuters to travel into both Exeter and Plymouth from Okehampton and Tavistock. Also to connect for other train services. Reopening the full Okehampton route would allow more long distance trains to be run from Plymouth to London and the North, but without using up all the track capacity needed to improve local train services on the Dawlish route.
Photo shows the south end of the Bannawell Street Viaduct in Tavistock. View south towards Bere Alston and Plymouth on 7th May 2016.
What it needs is 21 miles of restored track between Meldon near Okehampton and Bere Alston. The rest of the route remains in use as part of the Gunnislake and Barnstaple branches. The railway from Exeter to Okehampton remained in-situ and was used for occasional special services and on summer Sundays until the pandemic in 2020.
The Okehampton route would have been particularly useful for example in early 2019. Sunday 20, 27 January and 17 February saw the railway between Newton Abbot and Plymouth closed for track renewal work. Also during single line working for work on Marley Tunnel (between Newton Abbot and Plymouth) from February to early March 2019.
An article on 50 years of the closure by Bernard Mills appeared in the Plymouth Herald in April 2019.
More on reopening the Okehampton line - Restoring the second route from Exeter to Plymouth around the north side of Dartmoor.
In May 2023 recent and possible progress was considered in this video: "Which lines could return on the former West Devon railway network?" Note especially Devon County Council's Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Cllr. Andrea Davis, at 00:47-01:14 and 01:42-02:41. (The bid mentioned at 02:00-02:25 was successful, with a Strategic Outline Business Case submitted to the DfT in autumn 2022 and its approval given by Rail Minister Huw Merriman on 4th October 2023.)
Service options
This section contains information about the Okehampton route, things that should be considered and some suggestions. It is intended to inform discussion and act as a briefing document and does not rule out other options and variations. Discussion is based around a single track option, but with adequate passing capacity for at least 2 trains per hour each way.In summary - The current Local Authority proposal is for an hourly service from Plymouth to a new Tavistock Park and Ride station on the south west edge of the town (shown red on the map). These trains would pass at Keyham, which is very similar to the green and blue line shown on the timetable graph. However, here Railfuture suggests a short extension into/closer to Tavistock town centre as soon as possible (purple line on the map). To accommodate this extension these trains would not call at Bere Ferrers, but would still serve Devonport, Keyham, St. Budeaux Victoria Road and Bere Alston.
With further reopening the Plymouth to Tavistock service is then extended over further restored track via Lydford (green line on map) to join the disused freight line at Meldon, and the existing hourly Okehampton to Exeter service. Station stops north from Tavistock would be Okehampton, the not yet reopened Okehampton P&R station and Crediton. The timetable would allow some trains to call at Newton St. Cyres (blue line on timetable graph) or Sampford Courtenay (green line on graph). Journey time at a maximum 75mph would be 1 hour 20 minutes with 10 stops between Plymouth and Exeter.
Capacity for an additional hourly service is shown by the red lines on the graph. These trains would be express and normally only call at Tavistock (North) and Okehampton, but timings would allow a suggested new station at Lydford village to be served. Plymouth to Exeter would be covered in about 1 hour 7 minutes. They might not be used every hour throughout the day, except to provide a 2 trains per hour service each way between Tavistock and Plymouth.
The dashed black lines on the graph, show the Gunnislake service as hourly. The dashed purple lines are there to demonstrate how a future service from Exeter to Bude and Launceston line could be accommodated on the Okehampton route. For clarity only some of these hourly paths are shown.