If it's winter, it must be flooding!
Cancellations to services between Taunton and Exeter St Davids
Due to flooding between Taunton and Exeter St Davids all lines will be blocked.
Train services running through these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Apologies to customers travelling between Taunton and Exeter St David's this morning/afternoon. Network Rail advise that flood water has reached a critical point just North of Exeter St David's station at Hele & Bradninch level crossing. This means that Network Rail have made an assessment that concludes the flood water is rising to a point where the rails are too badly affected and is no longer safe to run trains over the affected rails. We full expect all lines between Taunton and Exeter St David's to be closed imminently. As soon as we have further information we shall relay accordingly. A road transport contingency is being requested and planned by GWR▸ Control team.
CrossCountry are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys. Cross Country and Great Western Railway are accepting each others customers via any reasonable route for this particular incident. This will be in place until further notice.
Cancellations to services between Newton Abbot and Plymouth
Following flooding between Newton Abbot and Plymouth all lines have now reopened.
Train services running through these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 14:00 20/12.
Customer Advice
Update (08:05) - We're pleased to advise all lines have since reopened at line speed which means trains can resume without any speed restrictions. Due to the significant disruption this morning however, services will continue to be disrupted into the early afternoon whilst we organise all the displaced trains and train crew back into timetable positions.
Apologies again to customers this travelling between Newton Abbot and Plymouth this morning. Unfortunately due to part of the railway suffering from severe flooding overnight we've had to close all lines between Newton Abbot and Plymouth. A road transport contingency has been requested in two forms, coaches to shuttle between Exeter St David's and Plymouth, in addition to local bus ticket acceptance on applicable routes between the two locations. Both are yet to be confirmed however as soon as we have confirmation of these requests we shall advise accordingly. A reminder that if you're travelling from an unstaffed station and require assistance, there are help-points available on platform level. Alternatively you may contact one of our social media specialists on Twitter via the handle @GWRhelp.
Again we sincerely apologise for the disruption to your service this morning.
Stagecoach bus route 2, 2A: Plymouth (Station) - St Budeaux (Square) - Saltash (Fore Street Bottom), Stagecoach bus route 2: Newton Abbot (Sherborne Rd) - Teignmouth - Dawlish (Green) - Starcross (Station) - Exeter (Bus Station), Stagecoach bus route 12: Newton Abbot (Station) - Torre (Station) - Torquay (Grand Hotel) - Paignton (Bus Station), Stagecoach bus route 39: Exeter (Bus Station) - Newton Abbot (Sherborne Road), Stagecoach bus route 57: Exeter (Bus Station) - Topsham (Station) - Exton - Lympstone - Exmouth (Parade), Stagecoach bus route 88: Totnes (Station, Stop C) - Newton Abbot (Sherborne Road), Stagecoach bus route A: Exeter (St Thomas) - Exeter (High Street), Stagecoach bus route B: Exeter St Thomas (Riverside Leisure Centre) Exeter (High Street) St James Park (Pennsylvania Road), Stagecoach bus route H: Exeter (St David's) - Exeter (Central) - Digby & Sowton (Station), Stagecoach bus route J: Polsloe Bridge (Tarbet Avenue) - Exeter (High Street) - Newcourt (Newcourt Way), Stagecoach bus route X38: Exeter (Bus Station) - Ivybridge - Plymouth (Bus Station), Stagecoach bus routes 5: Exeter (Central station New North Rd entrance) - Newton St Cyres - Crediton (Station Cross), Stagecoach bus routes 55, 55B, 355: Exeter (Central station New North Road) - Exeter (The Imperial) - Tiverton (Bus Station), Stagecoach bus routes 6A: Exeter (St Davids) - Exeter St Thomas (Cowick St) - Okehampton (West Street), Stagecoach bus routes 7: Exeter (Bus Station) - Newton Abbot (Sherborne Road) - Totnes (Opposite Royal Seven Stars Hotel), Stagecoach GOLD bus route: Torquay (Grand Hotel) - Paignton - Totnes (Station) - Ivybridge - Plymouth (Royal Parade) and Stagecoach South West are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys. Please be advised that we have blanket ticket acceptance in place with Stagecoach SouthWest this morning until further notice. This means that all Stagecoach SouthWest local buses in the Exeter area WILL accept your GWR rail ticket until further notice.
There was flooding yesterday morning between Totnes and Plymouth too. I find it sightly ironic that the only main line section that has not been closed is the sea wall section at Dawlish!
