PLANS for Wellington Railway Station are moving full steam ahead with hopes for construction to start next summer.

Network Rail is working on a joint rail project which would see new stations established in both Wellington and Cullompton.

Local MP Rebecca Pow, who chairs a Metro rail group of local councillors and other officials, detailed the updates on the project. 

She said that ‘the strategic business case draft for the new and long-awaited Rail Station in Wellington is ready and the full case should be submitted in the New Year.’

Ms Pow said the ‘economic case is finalised, and the timetabling work is done, showing an hourly service from the station, with trains running both North and South’.

This twin project is funded with £5 million from the Government’s Restoring Your Railway programme and is driven by Network Rail. 

A spokesperson from Network Rail said, ‘We expect to submit this business case to the Department for Transport (DfT) by the end of January, 2024, while work continues on the design.’

‘The project is not yet funded for delivery. Any further work beyond design, including building the station, is subject to approval of the business case and funding being approved from the DfT.’

Ms Pow said that ‘Network Rail are on track to get the pre-planning application ready to go by next April’ and hopes that full planning consent will be approved as soon as possible afterwards.

Wellington mayor, Cllr Marcus Barr, hoped that construction work could start next summer, believing that diggers could be on site by June and passengers could be using the trains by September, 2025.