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Okehampton to Exeter daily trains restarting after 49 years

BBC Okehampton Railway StationBBC
Bosses said the reopened route would benefit visitors to Dartmoor and regional commuters

Daily rail services are to restart between Okehampton and Exeter from November, officials have said.

Regular services on the 14-mile (23km) Dartmoor Line were withdrawn in 1972, although it has been used on Sundays in the summer since 1997.

Network Rail and Great Western Railway said they planned to have trains every two hours seven days a week, increasing to hourly from next May.

Tickets are due to go on sale from 12 October.

The rail companies and the Department for Transport said the services would launch on Saturday 20 November and marked "the first reopening under the government's [£40m] Restoring Your Railway programme".

Daniel Clark Okehampton Railway StationDaniel Clark
About half of services from Okehampton will stop at Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central stations

They said the route would connect Exeter St Davids, Crediton and Okehampton, "providing a launch pad for visitors to explore Dartmoor and regional links for local commuters".

About half of services, including peak time trains, would also carry on to Exeter Central station, they added.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak committed more than £40m in the last Budget to restoring the rail service.

Confirmation in March that the route - described by Conservative Central Devon MP Mel Stride as "vital" - was to reopen full-time gave increased hope to backers of a route connecting Okehampton with Tavistock and Plymouth.

Devon County Council has submitted two further bids as part of the Restoring Your Railway fund to the section between Bere Alston and Tavistock, and the section between Tavistock and Okehampton.

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