Richard Foord MP expresses relief about plans to resume normal train service, but says: “we simply cannot see this every autumn”

Richard Foord - the MP for Honiton & Sidmouth - has welcomed the planned reinstatement of train services on the Exeter to Waterloo line from Saturday 29 November 2025, following months of rail chaos.

South Western Railway trains between Exeter and Waterloo have been running on a dramatically reduced, two-hourly service since August. This was a consequence of a hot dry summer, which dried out the soil embankments on which the rails run.

The company, which was nationalised by the Government in May, has announced it will restore a full timetable with an hourly service from 29 November, such as that which ran prior to August.

Since August, journeys between Exeter and London have exceeded four hours on the West of England line, and the frequency of the service has been running at only half the normal timetable.

Residents of East Devon have found that journeys to work, college and school have been turned into a daily trial, made worse by overcrowded trains, and replacement bus services without enough capacity. The service has also been subject to frequent last-minute cancellations.

Richard Foord MP said: “My team and I have been in regular touch with South Western Railway bosses over the months. We spoke with SWR bosses as recently as yesterday to urge action.

“By the end of November, residents will have been without reliable rail transport for a third of the year.

“Where a service has been running, there has been overcrowding during rush hour.

“While I welcome the resumption of a normal service later this month, this is no way to run a railway. A lack of investment by successive governments in the West of England rail line, is having disastrous consequences for local people.

“With a dualling of the line between Axminster and Exeter, SWR could have maintained the hourly service throughout the autumn. It is not acceptable for this line – on which so many residents of East Devon depend - to have become the railway line that time forgot.”

Mr Foord added: “The rail service on the West of England line was the first in the country to be nationalised. If ministers want to show that nationalisation will improve Britain’s railways, they must invest in our rail infrastructure. This kind of chaos on the Exeter to Waterloo line simply cannot be allowed to happen every autumn.”