ON Sunday, August 2 the people of Okehampton and the surrounding towns and villages voted with their feet and showed unprecedented support for the First Great Western rail service to Exeter and beyond.

The single 153 unit left the station with the first service at 9.55 am having standing room only. The service picked up more passengers at Sampford Courtney and Crediton, arriving into Exeter St Davids with 107 people. Those not seated were crammed into the luggage areas and exit points. The last train home at 4.37pm was similarly crowded with no empty seats until Sampford Courtney.

What lessons can be learned from this demand for rail services for the town? When talking to passengers they want a seven day a week service to and from Exeter.

Readers might not know that this provision is included in the latest Great Western Franchise document. The relevant section can be found on pages 247-8 under the heading Devon Metro and reads:

(i) development and delivery of the ‘Devon Metro Phase 1’ propositions from the Passenger Change Date occurring in December 2017. Among the service improvements mentioned is an ‘incremental service as part of an overall “metro” proposition on routes into and across Exeter, from Barnstaple, Okehampton and Axminster, a seven day timetable on local services’.

On July 30 FGW and the Government announced new trains to serve the London to Penzance line. There was however, no mention of the provision of services to Okehampton.

Instead Destination Okehampton has learned that the implementation of the Northern route via the town to Plymouth has been delayed for a further five years to the 2024 – 29 rail investment period.

In the face of such uncertainty over the provision of a rail service to Okehampton it is essential that the popular Sunday service is retained next year [Summer 2016] and NOT seen as a subsidy but an investment for the future. If the railway is allowed to fall into disuse the track bed, bridges, culverts and embankments will all decay, making investment in the reinstatement of the line far more expensive and less attractive to local and national government.

What can be done?

Write to your MP, relevant Devon county, borough and district councillors requesting the connection of the Okehampton line to the Devon Metro.

At a local level Destination Okehampton — Council Working Group will continue work for the full reinstatement of the Northern route.

Dr Michael Ireland

Chair of Destination Okehampton

Council Working Group