Railway organisations have planned a celebratory event to mark one year since Okehampton station re-opened after nearly 50 years of closure.

Last Sunday (November 20) saw exactly one year since the passenger service from Okehampton to Exeter re-started and Great Western Railway (GWR), Network Rail, the Department of Transport and local railway group, OkeRail are working to commemorate the momentous occasion, though details of the event have not yet been released.

Michael Ireland, chairman of OkeRail, which was instrumental in re-opening the station, said: ‘I am exceptionally pleased to see that passenger numbers have been 200 percent up on what we thought and it’s transformed travel to Exeter. You get people crowded on the train. Tourism has increased and it’s had an effect on house prices. We are now an oasis in the middle of a railway desert.’

Mr Ireland added that his hope for the future would be to see the Dartmoor Line linked up once again and confirmed that the group were continuing to work on establishing a second station on the eastern side of the town.

‘My big hope for the future is making a connection to Tavistock,’ he said. ‘We need to bring Okehampton to Tavistock and make an easier link to Plymouth. It’s not just for the business community but for environmental reasons.’

The station’s service have been added to over the past year and now boasts a cafe, information centre, toilets and shop along with an upgraded track to increase the service from two hourly to one hourly.

Working with Okehampton Town Council, West Devon Borough Council submitted a second bid for the Government’s Levelling Up funding to cover the cost of building the proposed Okehampton Parkway station.