RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2021 :: RMTnews

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2021 :: RMTnews 22 Regular passenger services are set to be restored on a popular railway line in the South West of England for the first time in almost 50 years. As part of the ‘Restoring Your Railway’ scheme rail passengers to benefit from the return of daily services between Okehampton and Exeter later this year. The scheme will reconnect communities across Devon, reinvigorating local economies, boosting tourism to Dartmoor National Park and improving access to jobs and education. The Department for Transport, Network Rail, and Great Western Railway (GWR) are working together to reopen the line between Exeter and Okehampton to passengers all year round. Since 1997 the line has only been open during the summer after a regular service was withdrawn in 1972. A service will initially run every two hours later this year, with the expectation that it will increase to an hourly service towards the end of 2022. This will benefit students heading to colleges in Exeter as well as tourists travelling in the other direction towards Okehampton for Dartmoor, easing congestion on local roads. This is the first project to see services restored under the government’s Restoring Your Railway fund, launched in January 2020 to reinstate axed local services and restore closed stations. The fund is focused on delivering schemes which can level up the country, reinvigorating high streets, reconnecting cut-off communities and boosting opportunity across the country. The government has also announced £37.4 million of funding for the critical third phase of works to improve resilience on the coastal railway between Holcombe and Dawlish. This is in addition to a £341 million package of rail enhancements already committed across the South West. Network Rail is set to begin work later this summer on a rockfall shelter and netting to address instability on an area of steep, high cliffs to the north of Parson’s Tunnel between Holcombe and Dawlish. This is the part of the South West Rail Resilience Programme to create a more resilient railway after storms caused significant damage to the line in 2014, closing the railway for eight weeks and severing the South-West Peninsula from the rest of the network. Phase 1 of the programme, to build a new £80 million seawall on the seafront west of Dawlish station to protect 360 metres of railway and homes behind it, was completed in July 2020. Work on the second phase of the new seawall, to extend it a further 415 metres eastwards from Colonnades to Coastguards, began in November 2020 with support from an innovative eight- legged, jack-up barge, known as a ‘Wavewalker’. Work is ongoing and is expected to be completed by 2023. Exeter College Principal John Laramy said that the return of the Okehampton to Exeter rail line full-time was great news for the region and building connectivity across the South West. “As we all know, enhanced connectivity is a key driver for productivity and this development will open up new opportunities to support the growth of our economy within this area. "We have students study with us from across the South West region and another rail route into the heart of Exeter can only be a good thing, not only for learners themselves, but also for the city of Exeter,” he said. Dartmoor National Park Authority chair Pamela Woods said that opening up the line to Dartmoor with a regular train service would provide a sustainable route to access Dartmoor via regular rail links, reduce congestion and provide a more accessible way for all to enjoy the National Park. “We are looking forward to working with GWR to provide visitor information at REOPENING RAIL IN THE SOUTH WEST Dartmoor Line rail services between Okehampton and Exeter to be restored for first time in half a century REOPENED: Dartmoor Line rail services will be restored for first time in half a century: Okehampton station pre-closure