THREE special mainline rail services are being planned from Okehampton next year as campaigners step up the pressure for a regular service linking Okehampton to the national rail network.

Community group OkeRAIL is proposing three special one-day services in the spring, summer and autumn of 2018 in conjunction with rail operator Great Western Railway (GWR).

The plan comes after a momentous week for rail campaigners with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling mentioning the Okehampton route by name as he pledged to restore railway lines closed in the cuts of the 1960s and 1970s.

A consultation on the GWR franchise from 2020 has also been launched, with campaigners stressing the need to lobby for a regular Okehampton to Exeter service to be included in any deal with a new railway company to run the network in Devon and Cornwall.

‘We are provisionally planning one special service to Oxford and Stratford in the spring, a summer seaside train to Tenby in Pembrokeshire, and a London train in the autumn. It is a way of showing what’s possible from Okehampton, that Okehampton has the potential to be a regional rail hub,’ said Dr Michael Ireland, chairman of OkeRAIL CIC.

‘The other reason is to show that politically there is a tremendous demand for this from the communities around Tavistock and out towards north Cornwall and West Devon.

‘We want to show the Government that there is a demand for better connectivity from these coastal and market towns.’

Dr Ireland and OkeRAIL Forum chairman the Rev Mike Davies reiterated the case for a regular trial service from Okehampton to Exeter to rail bosses and transport ministers at a GWR stakeholders conference in London on Monday. ‘We are still pressing for a late 2018 start,’ said Dr Ireland.

Indications are that a trial service from Okehampton to Exeter could be up and running in early 2019, as new rolling stock from elsewhere in the country becomes available. Improvements are also needed to the track and signalling on the line. Funding is also vital to allow the service to go ahead.

Cllr Davies made the case at the GWF conference that a regular train service would help the economy in north Cornwall and north Devon being linked to a lack of transport connections.

‘The research presented to us shows the rural areas of West Devon and North Cornwall are economically deprived areas and would benefit tremendously with good rail connections,’ he said.The much needed daily passenger service from Okehampton to Exeter improves not only connectivity to the wider rail network but will provide an economic return for the people of West Devon and North Cornwall. What more can be done to highlight our case?’

His question was answered by Labour peer Lord Faulkner, who suggested lobbying government departments concerned with the economy, trade and tourism as well as transport.

‘We will keep pushing government departments to get the Okehampton to Exeter service up and running,’ said the Rev Davies, who is also West Devon Borough Councillor for Okehampton.

He said he was lobbying ‘everyone he could think of’ in Whitehall, acting on Lord Faulkner’s suggestion.

‘We are the number two for tourism, so there is a certainly a demand but if people can’t get here because there is no train service then we suffer,’ he said.

Mr Grayling pledged the Government’s commitment to reviving old railway lines, including the sections of line between Exeter and Okehampton and from Tavistock to Bere Alston, when he unveiled the Government’s rail strategy for the coming decades on Wednesday last week.

He wants to reverse the infamous ‘Beeching cuts’ of the 1960s and subsequent cuts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which hundreds of branch lines were closed as rail passenger numbers plummeted as more families owned cars. The Okehampton to Exeter service was cut in 1972.

Devon County Council is backing the OkeRAIL campaign for the service to be restored, having bought a site for a new parkway station outside the town which would be accessible to commuters from the surrounding areas.

Transport minister Jesse Norman met with Devon County Council leader John Hart privately when he visited Exeter’s St David’s Station for a press call last Wednesday as the Department for Transport unveiled its rail strategy.

Councillor Andrea Davis, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Infrastructure and Waste, said: ‘It’s encouraging that the Government is talking about new openings of closed lines, but we must ensure there is investment from any franchise serving the county. We have strongly pushed the Okehampton case with the minister, we have purchased the site for the proposed station and we are working hard to ensure it has a strong business case.

‘A lot will depend on the costs of reintroducing the service, but there are also a number of other factors such as infrastructure develop-ment, availability of rolling stock, and timetable planning that will need to be taken into account which may mean it could be 2019 or 2020 before a trial service can get underway.’