Trains to Dawlish - Station Details and further Information on Dawlish Train Services
Dawlish train station is on the London to Penzance Line and serves the town of Dawlish in Devon, England. The station and line is built on the sea wall, and has often suffered from storm damage due its proximity to the sea. South of the station the line passes through five tunnels through the cliffs as it follows the coast.
Dawlish is served by First Great Western local trains in both directions on an approximately hourly basis during the day. Most trains run between Exmouth and Paignton; on Sundays the service is less frequent and most trains only run between Exeter St Davids and Paignton. The line from Exeter St Davids through Dawlish to Paignton is marketed as the "Riviera Line".
A few First Great Western trains from Bristol or from London Paddington station also call at Dawlish, as do most South West Trains services from London Waterloo station and CrossCountry services from the North of England. Most of these services, including the Torbay Express from Paddington, continue to Paignton but a few run instead to Plymouth and even Penzance. At other times passengers travelling east or north catch a local train and change into main line trains at Exeter St Davids, or at Newton Abbot if travelling westwards.
The station is adjacent to the beach near the gardens at the centre of the town. The main frontage is in banded rusticated masonry. The remaining walls are rendered except for the east elevation, which faces the sea, which is in rubble stone. It has two storeys as the railway runs above street level and a café occupies most of the street frontage. The main entrance is at road level on the side served by trains to Exeter. This opens onto a booking office with an ornate ceiling from where a flight of stairs lead up to the Exeter platform, but step-free access can be obtained through a gate from the car park beside the station buildings, which is only access route when the booking office is closed.
Access to the opposite platform is by way of a covered footbridge, the stairways of which are contained within the building. Passengers who cannot use the steps can be escorted across the barrow crossing at the south end of the station by the station staff.
Immediately to the south of the station is the low Colonnade Viaduct, which carries the railway above the small river that runs through the gardens and the main footpath from the town to the beach and the South West Coast Path. To the north of the station is Coastguards Footbridge, with Coastguards Cottage, now a café, on the hill above the line to the west, and Brunel's Boat House between the line and the beach to the east. |
