Train services in south west England are not expected to return to normal before the weekend, National Rail has warned.

Storms Ingrid and Chandra, which GWR described as ‘back to back’, caused severe flooding in parts of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, while after heavy seas had damaged a sea wall, a sinkhole measuring 8m by 3.5m has appeared near the railway between Dawlish and Teignmouth. Network Rail engineers will be carrying out emergency repairs tonight, and the line will be closed. Buses will run between Newton Abbot and Exeter, and also between Plymouth and Tiverton Parkway. Tonight’s Night Riviera sleeper trains have been cancelled.

At the moment, there are no trains on the Great Western main line between Castle Cary and Taunton because of flooding and there is no replacement road transport, and so passengers between London and the South West are being advised to travel via Bristol. There are also problems at Pewsey, and passengers are being advised to use Swindon and continue from there by road.

Further west, there is no service on the lines to Barnstaple, Okehampton and Newquay, and passengers to Barnstaple and Okehampton have been told that rail replacement services are ‘very limited’. Buses are replacing trains on the Newquay branch, again because of flooding, but journeys will take longer.

Network Rail’s Western route director Marcus Jones said: ‘Our teams are on the ground around the clock, working as quickly as we safely can to assess the impact of the flooding. Once the water recedes, we’ll need to carry out safety inspections before the lines can reopen.’

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