Update from Network Rail:
Unused Tickets purchased before 17 February
Customers who did not travel due to floods and storms and would like a refund will not be charged a refund administration fee and will be eligible for a full refund on their ticket, whatever the ticket type.
Full details of how to apply are on
The process varies depending on where the ticket was purchased, but whatever the method of purchase if a ticket has not been used because of the severe weather it will be refunded in full.
Alternatively, customers can still use their tickets, without any date or time restriction up until Friday 21 February.
Compensation
We have reduced the price of all tickets for journeys that start, finish or travel through any of the stations between Newton Abbot and Exeter by 25%
This applies to all daily and weekly ticket types and any time of travel.
The 25% discount is also being extended to monthly and annual season ticket holders. We will write to them directly about this and they do not need to make a separate claim.
Our customer service team have also been asked to look at every case individually and we will offer additional goodwill gestures where appropriate.
Extra staff have been brought in to help with correspondence and our twitter service @fgw, which is very popular for travel advice, is now open 24 hours a day, and our customer relations calls team are now available from 0500 to midnight throughout the week. Advisors will be happy to offer advice to any customer about their journey or their tickets.
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Since the storm damage last week caused the railway line between Exeter and Newton Abbot to close, Anne Marie has been working non-stop to for local residents.
The line is a vital artery for the South West of England and crucial for coastal communities in Dawlish and Teignmouth. Anne Marie is clear that while an additional route would be welcome, it should not be an alternative route. Every year Dawlish station has a footfall of more than 480,000 people, more even than Torquay. Over the last decade this has gone up by 81%, putting Dawlish at significantly above the national average for passenger growth numbers. When combined with Teignmouth more than 1.1m people pass through the stations every year. Additionally, 14% of all jobs in the Teignbridge area are supported by tourism, much of which comes via the coastal railway line, making it invaluable for the local economy.
It is because of this that Anne Marie has been working hard to make the line more resilient, so it can stand up to any future storms. She has been lobbying for funding for a breakwater to be installed in addition to a sea wall to stop the waves causing such damage again.
Having met with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, on the day the line was closed Anne Marie welcomed Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport to Dawlish that week to show him the damage to the line first hand, along with the CEO of Network Rail, Mark Carne.
On Tuesday 11 February Anne Marie showed the Prime Minister, David Cameron the scale of the damage to the track in Dawlish and explained how critical it was to the local economy and the importance of making it more resilient.
In the meantime Anne Marie has lobbied First Great Western to provide more coaches from Exeter to Newton Abbot while the line is closed. Moreover she has been asking First Great Western to compensate season ticket holders who have been unable to use them while the track is repaired.