There are at least three concerns over the Interchange site as far as I've noticed.
1. Road Access, Traffic is intended to feed off the A30, in the case of traffic from the west, this involves a significant doubleback to/from that road. Additionally and more significant is that the station is located at the end of a feeder road currently used for an industrial estate, there appears at present no plan to improve this road.
2. Car Park size, this seems to be small which might become self defeating.
3. Effect on the 'Town' station, this is a significant site, it concerns me that the cafe and museum might suffer if passenger numbers transfer across to the Interchange site. The vibility of the former could be questioned.
1. The new station is just off the main road between the A30 and Okehampton town centre (from the east). If coming from the west, you could either drive around to it or leave the A30 earlier, take the western approach to Okehampton and drive up to the existing station. People will have a choice. The feeder road is actually quite a wide road already, built in preparation (well before the new station or even the line reopening had been approved) for what would use the site e.g. potentially a distribution depot. The car park site is where Network Rail had their work base for the reopening of the line.
2. 200 spaces is pretty decent. That's on top of the 85 or so at the existing station.
3. Visitors to Okehampton and Dartmoor will continue to use the existing station and there will be many for whom the existing station is still the better choice. The fact the existing station is a well restored period station, with a nice buffet, will of course help too (especially for visitors). At the end of the day, we'll see what happens when the Interchange station opens. My view is that it will provide an important new option for those for whom getting into Okehampton and up Station Road to the current station is a pain (and those who currently don't use the trains because they perceive that and/or that they might not get a space when they get to the existing station). It will also attract people who would walk or cycle to the station from that side of the town (and there are more houses being built right now, as can be seen in the drone photos of the station).
The Dartmoor Line continues to go from strength to strength. There were just under 443,000 journeys on it in 2024 - and that doesn't include Crediton which is included in the
Tarka▸ Line figures and has itself seen a huge increase in use now it has two trains an hour to/from Exeter. In 2022, the figure was just over 202,000. It's going to be fascinating to see what happens when the Interchange station opens.
More information about Okehampton Interchange can be found here
https://dartmoorline.com/okehampton-interchange/
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