250,000th journey taken on Exeter-Okehampton line

Rail minister turns up

Just over a year after the Dartmoor Line reopened to regular passenger trains, journey numbers have passed 250,000.

GWR implausibly claim this occurred on Monday morning [28 November], "with the arrival an extra special visitor, rail minister Huw Merriman MP."

He was officially opening the renovated station building at Okehampton.

The line reopened on 20 November last year, restoring a year-round service for the first time in almost 50 years following more than £40 million of public money.

The line between Okehampton and Exeter was £10 million under budget, and was the first former line to reopen under the government’s £500 million Restoring Your Railway programme. 

It has attracted double the number of journeys originally forecast and was upgraded from a two-hourly service to a train every hour in each direction this May.

Mr Merriman, said: “With over 250,000 journeys made, restoring this vital route has undone 50 years of damage, we’ve reconnected a community and created new opportunities for jobs, tourism, education and leisure.

“Our Restoring Your Railway programme is making a real contribution to levelling up the country and breathing new life into previously cut-off areas”

While the work to finish the Dartmoor Line is now complete, efforts are still being made to provide better connections from the Dartmoor Line, to surrounding towns and communities.

Devon County Council and local bus operators have worked with Great Western Railway to provide better bus links to Tavistock, seven days a week direct from Okehampton station. This now also includes new routes to Launceston and Bude which run direct to the station.