Network Rail is set to begin 15 days of engineering upgrades on the Dartmoor Line in preparation for the introduction of hourly services.  

From Monday 25 April until the early hours of Tuesday 10 May, Network Rail engineers will be upgrading parts of the 14-mile stretch of Dartmoor Line which currently carries two-hourly Great Western Railway (GWR) passenger services between Okehampton and Exeter.

While this engineering work is ongoing, a reduced train service will continue to operate between Exeter and Crediton with a rail replacement bus service in operation between Crediton and Okehampton. Trains services on the Tarka Line between Exeter and Barnstaple will continue to run as usual. Two-hourly train services to Okehampton will resume from Tuesday 10 May, with hourly services starting from Sunday 15 May.

The Dartmoor Line reopened to regular passenger services for the first time in nearly 50 years last November and was the first former line to reopen under the Government’s Restoring Your Railway programme.

Christian Irwin, Programme Director (South West), Network Rail, said:

 “These latest upgrades are critical in enabling this important railway line to increase to hourly services –something we had always committed to achieving upon receiving Government funding.”

Matt Barnes, GWR Head of Strategic Service Development, said: 

“This final upgrade work is important to ensure we can introduce our additional services later in May and we thank customers for their patience in advance.”