The route is the first reinstatement project to be delivered under the Government’s Restoring Your Railway fund and saw Network Rail complete all infrastructure works in just nine months.

This included laying 18km of new track as well as repairs to 21 structures, vegetation clearance and earthworks and drainage. More activity will be carried out over the winter including upgrades to station buildings.

Trains will initially run once every two hours in either direction before doubling to an hourly operation from May next year. Passenger services were withdrawn from the line in 1972 and a heritage railway operated from 1997 to 2019.

“We can’t wait to welcome passengers back to the Dartmoor Line after an absence of nearly 50 years, linking passengers to Exeter and services to the rest of the country,” said Network Rail’s western route and strategic operations director Mike Gallop.

The restored route will support rail access to the Dartmoor National Park for tourists and is expected to provide greater access to education and work for those who live locally.

Member of Parliament for Central Devon, Mel Stride said: “I am thrilled that after a decade of campaigning, a regular passenger service between Okehampton and Exeter has become a reality. It will provide thousands of my constituents with a rail service on their doorstep, will be a huge economic boost as we bounce back from the impact of Covid-19 and will reduce carbon emissions by taking cars off the A30.”

(Photograph: Network Rail)