West of England line

West of England line
Templecombe station in February 2010
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Termini	Basingstoke Exeter St Davids
Stations	21 (Basingstoke to Exeter St Davids)
Service
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	South Western Railway
Depot(s)	Salisbury TMD
Rolling stock	Class 158 "Express Sprinter" Class 159 "South Western Turbo"
Technical
Line length	120 mi 77 ch (194.67 km) [Basingstoke to Exeter St Davids] 172 mi 12 ch (277.05 km) [London to Exeter St Davids via SWML]
Number of tracks	2 (Basingstoke–Salisbury) 1 (Salisbury–Pinhoe) 2 (Pinhoe–Exeter St Davids)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	90 mph (140 km/h) maximum
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e West of England line
Legend
miles 0¾ London Waterloo South West Main Line Reading–Basingstoke line to Reading 47¾ Basingstoke Basingstoke & Alton Light Rly Worting Junction and Battledown Flyover South West Main Line to Southampton Oakley 55½ Overton 59¾ Whitchurch Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway Hurstbourne Fullerton to Hurstbourne Line to Southampton via Longparish Sprat and Winkle Line to Southampton via Andover Town 66¼ Andover MSWJR (Red Post Junction)   72½ Grateley Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway to Bulford Camp Idmiston Halt Porton Wessex Main Line to Southampton Fisherton Tunnel 83½ Salisbury Wessex Main Line to Bristol Temple Meads Wilton South Barford St Martin Viaduct Dinton Fovant Military Railway Tisbury Loop 96¼ Tisbury Semley 105¼ Gillingham Gillingham Viaduct Gillingham Tunnel Somerset & Dorset Joint Rly to Bath │ to Bournemouth 112¾ Templecombe Milborne Port 118¾ Sherborne Heart of Wessex Line to Castle Cary Yeovil Pen Mill Heart of Wessex Line to Weymouth Yeovil Town Yeovil–Taunton line 122½ Yeovil Junction Sutton Bingham Halt 131½ Crewkerne Crewkerne Tunnel Chard Junction Chard branch line 144½ Axminster Lyme Regis branch line Seaton branch line Seaton Junction Honiton Tunnel 154¾ Honiton Roundball Halt River Otter viaduct Sidmouth Railway 159¼ Feniton 163¾ Whimple 166¼ Cranbrook Broad Clyst 168½ Pinhoe Whipton Bridge Halt Avocet Line to Exmouth Exmouth Junction Mount Pleasant Road Halt Blackboy Tunnel 171¾ St James Park 171½ Exeter Central St David's Tunnel Exeter–Plymouth line to Plymouth 172¼ Exeter St Davids Bristol–Exeter line to Taunton Cowley Bridge Junction Tarka Line to Barnstaple

The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from Basingstoke, Hampshire, to Exeter St Davids in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Main Line at Salisbury. Despite its historic title, it is not today's principal route from London to the West of England: Exeter and everywhere further west are reached more quickly from London Paddington via the Reading–Taunton line.