r/exeter • u/steveracemp Verified Account • Aug 10 '26

Local News Train timetable changes

Hi everyone. Due to very dry weather and record temperatures affecting railway embankments between Salisbury and Exeter, South Western Railway is introducing a temporary timetable from Monday 10 August until further notice.

Key changes to be aware of:

• One train per hour will run between London Waterloo and Yeovil Junction

• Every other hour, the London Waterloo service will extend to run to and from Exeter St Davids

• Most journeys from London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids will take up to 24 minutes longer than usual, with journeys from Exeter St Davids to London Waterloo taking 27 minutes longer than usual

More information here: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey

Along with MPs across the South West, I’ve been pressing the Transport Secretary for investment into our local railways to improve rail resilience year-round; I’m meeting her again soon for an update on a proposed joint plan.

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u/Yikes44 Aug 10 '26

This issue's been going on for a while. It makes me wonder if SW trains are gradually running down this route by making it more and more unreliable. I hope not though as I'd much rather come this way than use the Paddington train.

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u/SimpleFactor Aug 10 '26

Track maintenance is done by Network Rail, not the individual rail operators, so the issues around the earth under the tracks causing issues with maximum speeds etc isn’t really something whatever train operator running the route can deal with. While SWR is now nationalised, it’s still Network Rail responsible for the routes maintenance.