Ivybridge railway station

Ivybridge railway station is situated on the Exeter to Plymouth line[1] and serves the town of Ivybridge in Devon, England. It is 40 miles 35 chains (65.1 km) down the line from Exeter St Davids and 234 miles 27 chains (377.1 km) measured from London Paddington via Bristol Temple Meads.

Ivybridge
Looking westwards
Location
PlaceIvybridge
Local authoritySouth Hams
Coordinates50.394°N 3.905°W / 50.394; -3.905
Grid referenceSX647565
Operations
Station codeIVY
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 59,374
2015/16 53,020
2016/17 55,516
2017/18 56,888
2018/19 54,482
History
Original companyBritish Rail
First station opened1848
First station closed29 November 1965
Current station opened15 July 1994
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ivybridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station reopened in 1994 to the east of the original station, which was in use from 1848 until 1965. The new station is located in the civil parish of Ugborough. It is owned by Network Rail and operated by Great Western Railway.

History

First station

Ivybridge's first station was located at 50.3957°N 3.9225°W / 50.3957; -3.9225. It was not complete when the South Devon Railway was opened,[2] but was brought into use just six weeks later on 15 June 1848. The building was situated on the north side of the track, immediately to the west of Ivybridge Viaduct.[3] Passenger trains were withdrawn on 2 March 1959 but goods traffic continued until 29 November 1965.[4][5]

Current station
A plaque commemorating the opening, mounted on a granite boulder near the entrance

A new station costing £380,000 was opened east of the viaduct on 15 July 1994 by British Rail under the Regional Railways sector. To fit in the narrow site, the platforms are staggered, with the eastbound platform nearer to Plymouth than the westbound. It was marketed as a Park and Ride station with a large 100-space car park to entice car drivers off the A38 road into Plymouth, but the level of train service has never offered the convenient and frequent service that is normally associated with such facilities.[4]

An early timetable[6] shows just 2 of the 10 trains to Plymouth railway station arriving there before 09:00, and the last return train leaving at 21:11. The afternoon service was gradually reduced until by September 1999[7] only 7 trains ran to Plymouth and 9 return. From 20 May 2001[8] a through service from London Waterloo station was introduced by South West Trains, which resulted in 11 trains each way. When First Great Western proposed their new Winter 2006 service there were many complaints as it would have seen a drastic reduction in trains calling at Ivybridge. After considering the position, a total of 9 trains were scheduled by the two companies but with just one train arriving in Plymouth before 09:00.[9]

Services
A Plymouth to Newton Abbot service

Since 14 December 2008 three High Speed Train services are operated by Great Western Railway in each direction have given a direct link to/from London Paddington station in addition to established local services.[10] Travel times to Plymouth are typically 15 minutes, while it takes around 50 minutes to reach Exeter.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Totnes   Great Western Railway
Exeter to Plymouth Line		   Plymouth

References
  1. "National Rail Timetable 135 (Winter 2007)" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
  2. MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863-1921. London: Great Western Railway.
  3. Cooke, RA (1984). Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR, Section 14: South Devon. Harwell: RA Cooke.
  4. Oakley, Mike (2007). Devon Railway Stations. Wimbourne: The Dovecote Press. ISBN 978-1-904349-55-6.
  5. "The South Devon Railway". Ivybridge Heritage.
  6. Train Times: Exeter, Torquay, Paignton, Plymouth, 28 May to 23 September 1995, Regional Railways South Wales & West (1995)
  7. Timetable B: Exeter to Torbay & Plymouth, 26 Sept '99 – 27 May '00, Wales and West Passenger Trains Ltd (1999)
  8. Summer Train Times: Exeter to Torbay and Plymouth, 20 May 2001 to 29 September 2001, Wales & West Passenger Trains Ltd (2001)
  9. Train Times: Book B, 10 December 2006 to 19 May 2007, First Great Western (2006)
  10. "West Coast dominates timetable changes". Modern Railways. Vol. 65 no. 723. Ian Allan. 2008. pp. 46–50. ISSN 0026-8356.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.