THE town council working group Destination Okehampton is still hard at work to see what can be done about increasing the chances of a permanent rail connection returning to Okehampton.

At a meeting on August 12 attended by town council representatives from Okehampton and Holsworthy, rail advisors and members of the Dartmoor Railway Supporters’ Association, reports were received on the success of this year’s summer Sunday rail service to Exeter, the recent meeting of Destination Okehampton representatives with officers from Plymouth City Council on the proposed rail link to Plymouth via the town and the costs of the ‘Sunday Rover’.

The continued success of the Sunday Rover summer service to and from Exeter has been shown through survey research undertaken each week by Richard Proctor on behalf of the working group. Richard has interviewed passengers departing Okehampton on the 9.55am and 11.58am trains from July 12 to August 9.

In that period he has interviewed 71% of the 401 passengers outbound on the morning trains. Of these passengers 64% were travelling to Exeter only, with a further 23% travelling to other destinations in Devon, the top three being Exmouth, Teignmouth and Dawlish. Those travelling onward from Exeter were going to Bristol and South Wales, the Midlands and London and the South East.

Chair of Destination Okehampton Cllr Dr Michael Ireland and rail advisor to the group Chris Bligh were invited to meet with officers from Plymouth City Council to discuss the advantages to Plymouth and Okehampton of reopening the rail line.

Cllr Dr Ireland said: ‘Among the points put to the officers was the difficulty of access by road, the economic benefits to both town and city of the rail service, the potential for employment, the reduction in travel time and opening up West Devon, Torridge and North Cornwall to Plymouth. The officers’ response was positive toward the line because of the economic benefit and resilience to extreme weather events.’

Mr Bligh is also carrying out work to ascertain the cost of operating the Sunday Rover train service. The service is subsidised by Devon County Council and with continued cuts to their budget there are concerns that the service could be cut in future. Destination Okehampton is doing a costing exercise to see if the costs to the council can be reduced while ensuring the rover service remains in place.