Dartmoor rail line to get year-round trains

The link to Okehampton is part of the former inland Exeter to Plymouth line

Fast track: Okehampton was once on the trans-Devon rail link (Department for Transport)

A windswept Devon station, 500 feet above sea level on the northern edge of Dartmoor, is to get regular train services restored in a £40m project.

Okehampton lost its rail connection with Exeter in 1972 as part of the Beeching cuts. A quarter-century later the link was reopened with summer Sunday services and special charter trains.

The Department for Transport (DfT) says regular services will be restored later this year. Initially trains on the 26-mile link will run every two hours, though it is hoped there will be hourly trains by 2022.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said: “The return of all-year services to the picturesque Dartmoor Line for the first time in half a century is a milestone moment in our efforts to restore our railways.”

It will be the first project with revived services restored under the government’s Restoring Your Railway fund – aimed at reinstating services axed in the Beeching cuts that began in the mid-1960s.

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The prime minister said: “Restoring the connections between our communities, and building new ones, is key to unlocking our nation’s potential and levelling up across the UK.”

Pamela Woods, chair of the Dartmoor National Park Authority, said: “Providing a sustainable route to access Dartmoor via regular rail links supports our green travel strategy, reduces congestion and provides a more accessible way for all to enjoy the National Park.”

Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: “It is encouraging to see the planned restoration of the Dartmoor Line’s rail services, as the first project that will be completed from the ‘Restoring Your Railway’ programme.”

But the Campaign for Better Transport called for more ambition, tweeting: “Let’s go further: a bold step change in investment could connect more communities to the rail network an help the economy to recover in a fair, sustainable way.”

The link to Okehampton is part of the former inland Exeter to Plymouth line that was operated by the London and South Western Railway. It was closed in 1968, leaving the coastal line via Dawlish the only link between the two cities.

A storm in 2014 halted services on the line for eight weeks.

Rail experts have lobbied for the inland route to be reinstated. But instead the government has announced £37.4m to improve resilience on the coastal railway.