Work to replace a section of railway track between Exeter St Davids and Axminster has now been completed.

Trains are now running again between the two stations after two weeks of work to replace a stretch of 50-year-old track through the Honiton Tunnel.

The line - part of the West of England route to London Waterloo - reopened for passenger use on the morning of Saturday, November 23, however treacherous weather conditions due to Storm Bert resulted in a revised service being run until Monday. 

And a signalling problem on the line this morning caused further delays.

During the two-week closure, engineers laid a mile of new track through the Honiton Tunnel, which has replaced the existing 50-year-old rails.

This work required the installation of 2,300 concrete sleepers and 4,000 tonnes of new ballast stone.

In order to complete this work, 15 engineering trains, one tamper, eight road rail vehicles and two road rail bulldozers were deployed to the site over the past fortnight.

Teams also replaced half a mile of track between Pinhoe and Feniton, while also stabilising the embankment at Cleave, where there was a landslip in May.

This morning there was a fault with the signalling at Pinhoe which had caused delays of 25 minutes to some services but this was unrelated to the engineering works that had just taken place and was caused by leaf mulch along the line, Network Rail said.

The Honiton end of the tunnel also fell victim to a landslip in August and Network Rail has worked to stabilise the surrounding area to reduce the risks to the railway.

This work is part of a wider scheme to renew the West of England Line, which connects Exeter with London Waterloo via Honiton, Axminster, Yeovil, Sherborne and Salisbury.

Further work to renew the line is scheduled to take place in 2025.

Mark Goodall, Wessex Route Director, said: “I am delighted that works to renew the line through the Honiton tunnel have been completed and trains are now able to run through from Axminster to Exeter.

"The West of England Line is a critical route for connecting passengers from Devon to London, and vice versa, and I hope these works improve the resilience of this vital stretch of track.

“I want to pay tribute to everyone involved in bringing this renewal work around the Honiton tunnel to its conclusion. They have worked, often in the confines of the tunnel, a combined 7,500 hours to ensure we could achieve this ambitious project within the two weeks.

“I would like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding over the past two weeks, while we have closed the line for this important renewal work. I know there is never a convenient time to close the railway for an extended duration so we’re sorry to any passengers disrupted by this closure.”