Flooding causes Devon and Cornwall rail disruption

Long-distance services to Reading and London from Devon were delayed on Tuesday morning

Flooding is continuing to cause problems on railways in Devon and Cornwall. 

The railway line between Exeter St Davids and Yeovil Junction in Somerset will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday following a landslip, but passengers have been warned the closure could continue into the weekend. 

Great Western Railway said it expected disruption on the main line between London Paddington and Devon and Cornwall to continue until 12:00 GMT on Tuesday afternoon, with journey times being extended by up to one hour.

One passenger told the BBC the disruption was causing "absolute chaos".

Flooding further east of Devon has caused knock-on disruption for rail passengers

'It's carnage'

Lisa Lea-Weston said she had to take multiple trains from Broadstairs, Kent, to Bristol Parkway, where services ended, on Monday.

She said she then managed to share an Uber ride with other passengers from Bristol to Newton Abbot, Devon, where her journey ended more than eight hours after it began.

"Honestly it’s carnage - I'm still reeling from it," she said.

"It felt like you just made it to one station at a time and then they booted you off.

"We were just abandoned and left on our own at every station.

"It was standing-room only... absolute chaos."

Lisa Lea-Weston said passengers were "booted off" trains on Monday

South Western Railway, which has services from London to Exeter, via Honiton and Salisbury, said on its website: "Due to a landslip between Exeter St Davids and Yeovil Junction, all lines are blocked.

"The recent heavy rain and flooding is causing earth to move above the Crewkerne Tunnel and the line is closed to all services on safety grounds."

GWR said: "Due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Taunton and Westbury, all lines are blocked.

"Train services running through these stations will be delayed or diverted."