South Western Railway (SWR) and Network Rail will reinstate the full West of England Line timetable from Saturday 29 November. Direct services between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids will run hourly once again, returning to their regular journey times. Customers are advised to check journey planners, which are now fully up to date.

Tom Desmond, Network Rail’s Wessex Route Operations Director, speaking on behalf of SWR and Network Rail, said: “We can confirm that we are set to restore the full timetable on the West of England Line on Saturday 29 November. We know just how important this line is to its local communities, with our customers using services to reach their places of work, or local schools and colleges. We have closely monitored ground conditions and are now able to start track repairs. Once those repairs are complete, trains will be able to run at full line speeds, bringing the full timetable back into operation. We are very grateful to our customers for their continued patience and would like to sincerely apologise for the disruption they have experienced since August.”

Bruce Duncan, Chair of the Salisbury-Exeter Rail User Group, added: “After a very challenging few months for students, commuters and leisure travellers using SWR’s services between Salisbury and Exeter, we are absolutely delighted the hourly timetable will be restored from Saturday 29 November. The SWR and NR team have worked hard to remedy the issues caused by the dry embankments, made particularly challenging by the extensive sections of single track on the route, and we look forward to working with them on long term plans to mitigate the ongoing impacts of climate change.”

The amended timetable was introduced in August after the driest spring on record in the UK. The extremely dry conditions caused clay embankments between Gillingham in Dorset and Axminster in Devon to shrink, a problem known as ‘Soil Moisture Deficit’. This disrupted tracks above the embankments and forced engineers to introduce speed restrictions, with trains running much slower than normal. Single-line sections on the route further complicated operations, necessitating the amended timetable.

With the arrival of autumn rain and cooler temperatures, the clay embankments are stabilising, allowing engineers to restore track levels. Once work is complete, the speed restrictions will be removed and the line will return to its full timetable.

Image: Network Rail