South West rail disruption as buses replace trains on Exeter line
Buses will replace train services as South Western Railway carry out engineering work to improve track quality.
Buses are set to replace trains on a key rail line this month as South Western Railway carry out engineering work.
Engineers are understood to be carrying out a “large amount of tamping” between Yeovil Junction Station and Pinhoe Station in Exeter later this month.
Tamping helps to re-pack the stones beneath a line’s track to ensure its rails are level.
The work is said to be the “next step” towards removing the line’s speed restrictions and therefore restoring its normal timetable after this summer’s “record-breaking” temperatures.
Train services between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids have been running on an amended timetable since August, when dry conditions caused the ground beneath the track to shift.
The work will be carried out across four nights, from Monday, November 23 to Thursday, November 26.
As a result, buses will replace train services between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids from 10.46pm each evening.
Simon Milburn, South Western Railway’s chief engineering and technical officer, said: “We’ve already carried out a lot of tamping to ensure trains can continue to run safely and reliably, and this additional overnight work will help us get to the track quality we need to bring us another step closer to restoring the normal timetable.
“We’re sorry for any disruption this may cause. We recommend customers plan carefully and allow extra time to complete their journeys, and once again thank them for their continued patience.”