Community rail

Community railway lines are lines which have a special designation, allowing local involvement in the development and running of a local railway. In order for a line to be classified as a community rail line it must:

• Be primarily local in nature
• Be low speed and have light use
• Carry designated services (those where the management of the franchise gives the train operator greater flexibility to work with the local community in the nature of the service).

Community rail schemes are managed by community rail partnerships and in the south west six rural branch lines are managed by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership.

Please use the links on the right to find out more about community rail lines.

The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership

The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership is the largest rail partnership in the country and one of the longest established. It represents a long term commitment to working with the rail industry by Cornwall and Devon County Councils, Plymouth City Council, the University of Plymouth and a host of other partners.

The aims of the Partnership are:

• To promote the use of branch line trains
• To work for improvements to branch line services and facilities
• To promote the places served by the branch lines - helping to boost the local economy through rail links
• To promote two-way communication between the community and the rail industry on the branch lines.

The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership’s work is based on six rural branch lines in Devon and Cornwall and the two local lines which are the Tamar Valley line which runs into Plymouth and the Looe Valley line.

Tamar Valley Line

The Tamar Valley line connects Plymouth and Gunnislake and incorporates the following principle stations: Devonport Dockyard, Keyham, Bere Alston and Calstock.

The majority of the route runs alongside the Tamar estuary and from the train passengers have a breathtaking view of the Devon countryside, making the route popular with tourists. However, the branch line is also a valuable commuter link into the City of Plymouth and the Partnership are working hard to encourage all uses of the railways, through the provision of carnet tickets, benefiting regular rail uses and guides to the local area for leisure trippers.

From December 2008 the Tamar Valley line has also benefited from an extra train which has enhanced the afternoon timetable and resulted in increased patronage. In the future, the partnership are keen to support the re-introduction of trains to Tavistock on the Drake line.

Tickets

To encourage passengers to use the railway line on a regular basis a carnet ticket, offering reductions on the standard fare, is available for use on the Tamar Valley line. Further ticket options for all the local community railway lines can be found on the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership website.

Looe Valley Line

The Looe Valley line connects Liskeard and Looe and incorporates the following principle stations: Coombe Junction Halt, St Keyne Wishing Well Halt, Causeland and Sandlplace.

Information

Timetables

The latest rail timetables for the Tamar Valley and Looe Valley lines and other rural branch lines in Devon and Cornwall can be downloaded from the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership website.

Local area guides

Trails from the Track is an initiative developed by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership and is a series of self guided walks accessible from the community rail lines. Five walks have been created for passengers travelling on the Tamar Valley line and a further ten walks are based around the Looe valley line. All the walks can be downloaded from the homepage of the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership website.

Journey planning

If you would like help planning a journey by public transport please visit:

• Traveline - for local and national journey planning information
• PlymGo - for Plymouth journey planning information
• National Rail Enquiries - for all rail based journey planning information

[Back to top]