News
Media coverage
It was fantastic to see the reopening of the Dartmoor Line splashed across national, regional and local media following Friday’s big announcement. BBC Breakfast filmed live from Okehampton station (watch a clip with Dartmoor National Park’s Rebecca Martin) and interviewed rail partners and local volunteers alike. More ➔ “Media coverage”Read More
Watch our launch video
Official press release
Devon communities to be better connected as railway line set to reopen for first time in 50 years.Communities and passengers in Devon are to benefit from the reopening of the railway between Okehampton and Exeter as a result of the Government’s ‘Restoring your Railway’ initiative.Following More ➔ “Official press release”Read More
Welcoming the news
Find out how much today’s announcement means for both the local community and the region. Watch our interviews with a wide range of partners, from Mel Stride MP to local Okerail campaigner Dr Michael Ireland.It’s thanks to this great partnership of different organisations and voices that today’s announcement has been made possible.Mel More ➔ “Welcoming the news”Read More
Next steps to upgrade the line
Now that the Department for Transport has approved the funding to reopen the line, Network Rail engineers will start upgrade work immediately and over the next few months will lay 11 miles of new rail, replace 24,000 sleepers and install over 29,000 tonnes of ballast before running test trains on the track ahead of fully reopening the railway to passengers later this year.Concrete More ➔ “Next steps to upgrade the line”Read More
Working with Becky Bettesworth
We’re delighted that award-winning Devon artist Becky Bettesworth has allowed her fantastic Dartmoor artwork to be used as the flagship look for our homepage. It will also appear on an upcoming Dartmoor Line railway station poster – watch this space!Becky’s work draws inspiration from the classic railway posters of the 1930s, making the partnership a perfect fit. More ➔ “Working with Becky Bettesworth”Read More
The great wall of sleepers
As this fantastic photo from Network Rail shows, a huge number of concrete railway sleepers have already been delivered on site ready to begin work. But there’s more to come. What you see here represents only half of the 24,000 new sleepers required to allow trains to run safely later this year. More ➔ “The great wall of sleepers”Read More
Introducing the Railvac
X-ray vision courtesy of the PLPR train
Restoring the Dartmoor Line infrastructure
Over the past 6 months, Network Rail has been carrying out detailed investigations to understand what infrastructure and signalling improvements are required to bring the Dartmoor Line up to modern standards to enable GWR passenger trains to operate safely.This has involved assessments of the railway line, structures such as bridges, level crossings and drainage. More ➔ “Restoring the Dartmoor Line infrastructure”Read More