Trains are running between Exeter and Barnstaple for the first time this month, after Network Rail repaired the damage caused by heavy rain which washed away ballast and put some structures at risk.

But Network Rail warned that it would be continuing to monitor the situation, because more rain is forecast for north Devon over the next ten days.

Engineers have been trying new equipment at one of the bridges which provides data on how fast the water is flowing on both the river bed and at the surface.

Network Rail said: ‘If successful, this technology will reduce the duration and frequency of bridge closures due to flooding – it’s hoped that other bridges on the Barnstaple and Okehampton lines can have this equipment fitted over the spring and summer.’

The news was not so good in Cornwall, where floods mean that the Looe branch cannot reopen until the second week of March at the earliest, while bridges damaged by floodwater are repaired.

However, trains are running normally today on the Par to Newquay line, after the route was closed yesterday because of more flooding at Roche.

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