Trains restart on Dartmoor rail line after 49 years

Regular train services have returned to the Dartmoor line in Devon for the first time in 49 years.

Great Western Railway (GWR) trains is operating the route between Okehampton and Exeter as part of a government scheme to restore abandoned lines.

GWR is initially running trains every two hours with plans to increase it to hourly services in 2022.

Since 1997, the line has only been open on some summer Sundays after regular services stopped in 1972.

GWR regional director Matthew Barnes said the first train into Okehampton, which he was on, had a "very smooth journey".

"The track is in fantastic condition, and it was really, really lovely to carry people up here," he said.

Paul Vodden, from the Dartmoor Railway Association, said: "For the local area, for the leisure industry, it's a big, big thing down here."

By John Maguire, BBC News

There was a huge amount of excitement here in Okehampton, on a line built 150 years ago.

The first train ran on Saturday morning. It was absolutely packed, there was a band and there were singers on the platform.

I've never seen somebody come off a train and fist-pump the air - that's the level of excitement that there is around the service.

From here to London, a journey will take about three hours. Try and do that in a car, it'll take more than four.

It will be a huge boost, not only to the local economy, but to local people, and for what is a very historic line.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps travelled on a special rail service which ran on Wednesday to mark the reopening of the line.

Local schoolchildren, campaigners, railway staff and supporters of the project were also on board.

Construction and upgrading work was completed in nine months, with track operator Network Rail saying it laid 11 miles (18km) of new track, installed 24,000 concrete sleepers and 29,000 tonnes of ballast in 20 days.

Repairs have also been made to 21 structures along the route, including four bridges.

Other infrastructure work has included level crossing improvements and the installation of railway communications equipment.

Vegetation clearance, earth and drainage works and fencing has also been completed, and further infrastructure work will continue to take place to increase the line speed to enable an hourly service in 2022, managers said.

More work is due to be carried out over the winter, including on the station buildings, to enable the restoration of the café and other facilities, they added.

The Restoring Your Railway fund was launched in January 2020 to reinstate axed local services and restore closed stations, many of which were cut following Dr Beeching's report on The Reshaping of British Railways in 1963.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].