Dartmoor Line

We’re building Okehampton Interchange, the newest station on the Dartmoor Line. Opening in 2026, it will bring even more people onto the railway between Okehampton and Exeter.

Okehampton Interchange will be a new purpose-built station as an exciting next step for the Dartmoor Line. The new station will complement the existing Okehampton station, which will remain open.

Just two minutes from the A30, the new station will serve the growing east side of Okehampton and help more people travel sustainably. It will reduce traffic through the town centre and on Station Road and relieve pressure on the existing station’s car park.

The station will have cycle parking and electric car charging points. Walking & cycling routes will be enhanced and buses will call at the station.

March 2025

The first major stage of progress was completed. Seven days of round-the-clock work took place to move 300 metres of the single-line track 90cm north. This will allow a new platform to be built alongside it. The previous track layout didn’t allow for a platform to be built that meets regulations for new stations.

May 2025

The second stage of work saw 25 bored piles driven 12 metres into the ground to support the new platform, bridge and lift. Most of the work took place overnight with no disruption to trains.

Ecology

We’re planting thousands of native trees and shrubs at several sites around Okehampton. This will create new habitats for rare hazel dormice. They are classified as vulnerable in the wild and move around, nest, feed and breed above ground. Hazel, hawthorn, oak, silver birch, mountain ash and honeysuckle, all native to Great Britain, are among the trees and shrubs planted.

We’re working with Natural England to enhance the local environment. We’re not building public parks, we’re creating a natural environment that will mature over the coming years. It will allow native species to thrive and improve the biodiversity of the area. All the sites are privately owned and there’s no public right of way through them.

Reopening Okehampton station

The project follows the successful reopening of Okehampton station in 2021. Network Rail laid 11 miles of new track, replaced 24,000 sleepers and installed 29,000 tonnes of ballast.

The work allowed passenger trains to run again between Okehampton and Exeter for the first time in over half a century and attracted over half a million passengers in the first two years.