Hourly services to start on Dartmoor Line from Exeter to Okehampton from today

The Dartmoor Line closed to regular services in 1972 but was reopened in November 2021

A new hourly service on the recently reopened Dartmoor line begins today (Sunday 15 May).

The Okehampton to Exeter route has proved popular since reopening to regular passenger services for the first time in 50 years in November 2021.

For the past six months, a service has ran every two hours, but GWR and Network Rail has now increased trains to cater to demand ahead of the summer.

It meant engineers had to upgrade a 14-mile stretch of the line to allow trains to travel faster.

Regular services were withdrawn in 1972, and since 1997 the line has only been open during the summer.

Richard Burningham, manager of the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, said: “It is incredible to think that from 15 May, not six months since the Dartmoor Line reopened, Okehampton will have trains every hour through much of the day, seven days a week."