Devon County Council seeks funding to restore another section of abandoned Dartmoor Line railway

In November 2021, a section of the Dartmoor Line connecting Exeter with Okehampton was reopened but now Devon County Council is waiting to hear if its business case to reopen track between Tavistock and Bere Alston will be accepted by the Department for Transport (DfT). However, this will not yet reconnect Bere Alston and Tavistock with Exeter as the section between Tavistock and Okehampton does not form part of the current business case.

In a statement, Devon County Council cabinet member for climate change, environment and transport Andrea Davis said: “In the future, we would like to see the whole northern route re-opened and that is our primary objective with this part of Devon.

“If the government come back and say they aren’t going to support it at this time, we will always look at other funding opportunities.”

The current plans would see a new single-platform station constructed at Tavistock, just south of the A390.

Bere Alston railway station currently serves the town on the Tamar Valley Line to Gunnislake. This route escaped closure in the 1960s due to places on the line having poor road connections.

While the track bed is still in existence to the south of Tavistock, concerns have arisen over the reinstatement due to the line being breached on its original course and the trackbed having been built upon at the former Tavistock North station.

The council is expecting to hear on the outcome of the business case, which was put together with £50,000 Restoring Your Railway funding, by the end of this summer. Tavistock North train station, along with the rest of the line, closed in 1968 as part of the Beeching-axe, severing the town’s connection to mainline services.

In November 2022, TavyRail estimated the cost of reinstating the line between Tavistock and Bere Alston as costing £92M.

The council also has aspirations to reinstate the 45km line from Okehampton to Bude which was also scrapped by Richard Beeching in the 1960s. The full route between Okehampton and Bude currently has eight abandoned stations. Plans to reopen the route were allied by Levelling Up funds announced in January agreeing to provide £13.4M to develop a second railway station in Okehampton.

The newly-allocated levelling up funds will be used by West Devon Borough Council for an integrated transport hub on the eastern edge of Okehampton, allowing people to connect with the rail network from the A30 from Exeter with ease.

Like what you’ve read? To receive New Civil Engineer’s daily and weekly newsletters click here.