Rail passengers in North Devon have been left stranded too many times, councillors heard, as mounting frustration over repeated closures of the Barnstaple to Exeter line spilled into a meeting this week.
Members of Barnstaple Town Council agreed to write to the Rail Minister at the Department for Transport expressing concern about what they described as a lack of resilience on the route, and calling for action to secure long-term improvements.
The issue was debated at a meeting on Monday, February 23.
Addressing councillors under public participation, Tim Steer, regional branch chair of Railfuture Devon and Cornwall told the meeting that the North Devon, or Tarka, line had been shut multiple times since November last year due to extreme weather. He said residents rely on the rail service for a range of reasons and that disruption put livelihoods at risk.
“The residents within your community rely on the rail service for many reasons and their livelihoods are put at stake when disruption means they cannot guarantee when the service will resume,” he said.
He added that students had missed education, patients had missed vital healthcare and employees had missed work, while some businesses along the line had laid off staff due to loss of revenue.
Tim also highlighted the impact on leisure travel, saying even Exeter City Football Club had spoken publicly after North Devon fans were unable to attend matches during recent disruption.
In a separate letter referenced at the meeting, councillors raised concerns that there had been no rail connection between Barnstaple and Exeter since the end of January, with confirmation the line would reopen on Friday, February 20, before closing again between March 21 and March 29.
The letter stated this would be the third closure of the line in 2026 and described the situation as “of great concern” to residents of Barnstaple and North Devon.
It continued: “North Devon is already very remote with a less than adequate road network and limited bus services in and out of the area.”
The letter added that more than 1,000,000 journeys had been recorded on the line in a 12-month period, with growth over the past five years said to be ahead of other lines nationally.
Councillors said investment was long overdue, including upgrades to enable more than one train per hour, but argued that when services could not run at all it undermined confidence in the area’s transport links.
Tim told members he supported the council’s decision to write to the Rail Minister, noting that the North Devon line was referenced in formal transport documents including the Devon County Council Local Transport Plan, the Peninsula Transport Strategic Implementation Plan and the Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority Corporate Plan.
He also said he had written to the managing director of GWR, Mark Hopwood CBE, and shared part of the response he had received.
“We recognise the strength of feeling locally about the need for greater resilience, improved frequency and reduced journey times,” Mr Hopwood wrote.
“We are continuing to work closely with Network Rail and partners to help build a more robust and reliable railway for the future. Investment and long-term funding are key to delivering this, and we always welcome constructive third-party advocacy that supports the case for further improvements.”
The council’s letter calls on the Government to commit funds to invest in the railway line and bring forward funding to enable a reliable service to be delivered, to give confidence to the population of North Devon and support future economic growth.
