FEWER trains due to an “infrastructure fault” has led to overcrowding at peak times on the Tarka Line through Crediton as students return to school and college. 

The problem is being resolved but it “will take time for new parts to arrive”, Great Western Railway (GWR) told the Courier. 

New students were turned away from boarding the 8.22am service to Exeter at Crediton railway station as “there was just no more room”, Karen Garton said on Facebook, whose son was also not allowed to board the 5.19pm service from Exeter St David’s to get to Lapford on Thursday, September 12. 

“I can’t fault GWR who quickly put him and his friend into a taxi, presumably as their next available service [for Lapford] was at past 9pm, but this is a very much a sticking plaster solution on a very big problem,” she added. 

A commenter suggested the situation has been “like that for the past two years” and her daughter “rarely got a seat” from Umberleigh to Exeter at peak times when she was at college. 

Another user posted a photo of a crowded carriage on the Tarka Line just before 5.30pm on Monday, September 16. 

A spokesperson for GWR said: “We face a challenge at the moment with less trains available to us than we would usually have due to an infrastructure fault.  

“This is being resolved but it will take time for new parts to arrive. 

“As a result, some services could be formed of fewer carriages than planned.  

“We appreciate this is uncomfortable and we would prefer if every customer was able to be seated, however this is preferable to cancelling a service altogether.  

“We know how important our school services are and are doing all we can to ensure they run in the planned formation.” 

The Tarka Line operates between Exeter and Barnstaple via Crediton.  

The Dartmoor Line, which was reopened in 2021, goes between Exeter and Okehampton, also via Crediton.  

Plans for a second railway station in Okehampton, to be known as Okehampton Interchange, are progressing.