Ivybridge Station - Platform Extensions?

[Sir Felix Pole]

A study (costing £20k - you don't get much for your money these days do you?) is nearing completion for the possible extension of the platforms to accommodate main-line services.

Ivybridge

A feasibility study into extending the platforms at Ivybridge railway station is nearing completion, with final costings now being prepared.
South West Devon MP Rebecca Smith said Network Rail had updated her this week and was hoping to have the study ready within the next few weeks.

The study is examining whether the platforms can be extended to allow more services, including CrossCountry trains, to stop at Ivybridge.
South Hams District Council has provided £20,000 towards the feasibility work, which is being carried out to determine whether extending the platforms is possible.

The latest official figures also show that nearly 137,000 entries and exits were recorded at Ivybridge station during 2024/25, an increase of around 16 per cent on the previous year.
Ms Smith said: “The next step is for the feasibility study to be carried out to understand whether the platforms can be extended. If it shows they can, we then need to secure the funding for the work.”
“I have previously raised in Parliament that 29 CrossCountry services were passing through Ivybridge without stopping, alongside 16 GWR services stopping there, so I believe that getting more services to call at Ivybridge could make a real difference for local residents.”

It may be good news for Ivybridge, but Plymouth to Exeter is slow enough without further increasing journey times by making additional calls in long-distance services.

 

[edwin_m]

Conversely, Plymouth to Exeter is slow enough that an extra stop makes less difference to journey times than it would on a faster route. This near the end of their journeys, do the XC services (at least the ones that don't go into Cornwall) have empty seats?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Conversely, Plymouth to Exeter is slow enough that an extra stop makes less difference to journey times than it would on a faster route. This near the end of their journeys, do the XC services (at least the ones that don't go into Cornwall) have empty seats?

They're not as heaving as they are in the core, but if they're 4 car as they often are they are often still busy. On the other hand Ivybridge is in the middle of nowhere so wouldn't exactly add lots, and for those going specifically to Dartmoor but not overly bothered which bit (e.g. those going specifically to wild camp) Okehampton has probably abstracted some traffic.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

They're not as heaving as they are in the core, but if they're 4 car as they often are they are often still busy. On the other hand Ivybridge is in the middle of nowhere so wouldn't exactly add lots, and for those going specifically to Dartmoor but not overly bothered which bit (e.g. those going specifically to wild camp) Okehampton has probably abstracted some traffic.

My purely subjective observation is that passengers at Ivybridge are mainly to and and from 'up country' (students and the like) rather than commuters to Plymouth. The town is not in the 'middle of nowhere' - it has large housing estates and is effectively suburban Plymouth on the A38 corridor, and indeed if local government reorganisation goes ahead it will be part of 'Greater Plymouth'. Ideally it should be served by a 'Plymouth Metro' local service along with reopening stations at Plympton and even South Brent.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Why would XC put in Ivybridge calls when they don’t (tend to*) stop at Dawlish or Teignmouth? Surely calling there would be far more valuable?

*I’m aware a very small handful do, I think the Paignton ones

It’s interesting to also note that while many GWR trains skip Tiverton Parkway, every XC train calls without fail.

 

[brad465]

If anywhere in Devon needs platform extensions, it's the key stations on the Tarka line that need longer trains on the busy college runs (and possibly also tourist traffic), as being discussed here:

Tarka Line Travails

There is a lot of anger over the past few days about the massive overcrowding on the Tarka Line due to the Class 175 shortage, particularly focused on the 07:22 from Barnstaple and the return 17:14 from Exeter which have both peak time commuters and a large amount of kids from North Devon going...

www.railforums.co.uk

The only real merit to upgrading Ivybridge I can see is making it the eastern end of a Plymouth metro service, either by installing a Plymouth-facing bay platform, or adding turnback capability to one of the existing platforms.

 

[irish_rail]

Right this all stems from the local MP who has a bee in her bonnet on the subject. She is adamant XC services need to call at Ivybridge. I tried to explain to her that all this will do is slow down the service even further for the great majority who are travelling to or from Plymouth, but presumably this has fallen on deaf ears.
As others have said up thread, the route from Exeter to Plymouth is already slow, so why make things even worse?

 

[Devonian]

It's 22 miles between Plymouth and Totnes, so Ivybridge - almost exactly in the middle - has the potential to serve a fairly large area from the wider South Hams. Rail traffic to/from the South Hams stations has grown more rapidly than the national average (combined, it's heading towards tripling since 2000), and Totnes has reached car parking capacity as a rail head with no room for further expansion, which will limit further passenger growth there. Enabling more services to stop at Ivybridge and encouraging South Hams passengers to start/end their journey there might have some merit as a way of alleviating parking at Totnes and enabling further growth overall.

It's perhaps worth noting that increasing the frequency of trains calling at Ivybridge has so far been successful in adding extra passengers: witness the increase in services per week from 129 to 208 between 2020 and 2026, with increase of passengers of about 150%, about 50% more per train. While the past can be no guide, it does perhaps hint at suppressed demand.