Exeter Central railway station

This article is about one of the stations in Exeter, England. For other similarly named stations, see Exeter railway station (disambiguation).

Exeter Central
The entrance from Queen Street
General information
Location	Queen Street Exeter, Devon England
Coordinates	50.7264°N 3.53300°W / 50.7264; -3.53300
Grid reference	SX918930
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	3
Train operators	Great Western Railway South Western Railway
Bus routes	20
Bus stands	4
Bus operators	Stagecoach South West Dartline Country Bus MD Coaches
Other information
Station code	EXC
Classification	DfT category C1
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
1860	Opened as 'Exeter Queen Street'
1933	Rebuilt and renamed 'Exeter Central'
Passengers
2020/21	0.946 million
Interchange	94,997
2021/22	2.244 million
Interchange	0.177 million
2022/23	2.608 million
Interchange	0.314 million
2023/24	2.783 million
Interchange	0.274 million
2024/25	2.962 million
Interchange	0.330 million
Listed Building – Grade II
Feature	Exeter Central Station
Designated	24 July 2026
Reference no.	1495589
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Exeter Central railway station is the most central of the stations in the city of Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom. It is 171 miles 30 chains (275.8 km) down the line from London Waterloo. The station is smaller than Exeter St Davids on the west side of the city. Great Western Railway manages the station and operates most services, with South Western Railway providing the rest. With 2.962 million entries and exits from 2024-2025, it has overtaken Exeter St Davids (2.922 million) as the busiest station in Devon.

From 1860, when it was opened by the London and South Western Railway, until 1933, when it was rebuilt, it was known as Exeter Queen Street. The 1933 building is Grade II-listed.

History

There were two sidings between the through platforms until 1969 which were used by spare carriages and locomotives

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened its Exeter Extension from Yeovil Junction on 19 July 1860 and its station at Queen Street in the city centre became the terminus for services from London Waterloo station, known then as Exeter Queen Street station. From 1 May 1861 it was also the terminus for trains on the new Exeter and Exmouth Railway. This was also operated by the LSWR but the physical junction between the two lines was at Exmouth Junction, 1 mile 3 chains (1.7 km; 1.04 mi) east of Queen Street.

The final piece of the LSWR's network in Exeter was opened on 1 February 1862 when a steep line descended from the west end of Queen Street station to reach the Bristol and Exeter Railway's station at Exeter St Davids which had been opened in 1844. Here the LSWR connected with the Exeter and Crediton Railway and over that line eventually reached Plymouth, Padstow, Bude, and Ilfracombe Most trains to these destinations changed locomotives at Queen Street and many had carriages added or removed too. A locomotive shed was situated at the station but it was replaced by a new maintenance depot at Exmouth Junction in 1887. The space was later used for enlarged carriage sidings; further carriage sidings were situated at the west end of the station beyond the Queen Street bridge.

The original station had just a single platform with two tracks which were covered by a large train shed. A second platform and train shed was added in 1874 and two sidings were laid to give a total of four tracks between the platforms. The LSWR became a part of the Southern Railway (SR) in 1923 and two years later the eastbound platform was lengthened from 600 feet (180 m) to 1,210 feet (370 m), taking it beyond the New North Road bridge at the east end of the station. A fire damaged the original wooden buildings on the westbound platform in 1927 and work on rebuilding the station started in 1931. The train sheds were demolished and new brick buildings were officially opened on 1 July 1933 when the station was renamed Exeter Central. At this time there were four platform tracks – east-facing terminal platforms 1 and 4 and through platforms 2 and 3 – and two additional through lines in the centre of the station.

On 1 January 1948 the SR was nationalised to become the Southern Region of British Railways but in 1963 the Southern Region lines west of Salisbury were transferred to the Western Region and by 1967 services from London Waterloo were reduced with very few running beyond Exeter St Davids. The entrance at the east end of the station from New North Road was closed in 1966. Goods yards had been provided on the north side of the line, both behind the eastbound platform and also on the other side of the Queen Street bridge. General goods traffic was withdrawn on 4 December 1967 but cement traffic continued until January 1980. The eastbound through line (the 'up through') was taken out of use on 9 November 1969, as was the 'down through' on 13 October 1984.

The entrance from New North Road was reopened on 2 July 1984, and later a new ramped footbridge was installed to give direct access from there to the east end of both platforms. The ticket office was moved into a smaller space while the original ticket office was rented out as a commercial space until 2012 when the original ticket office was reopened. New ticket gates were installed at the same time and the waiting rooms improved and the street outside the main entrance on Queen Street redeveloped. A further redevelopment was completed in 2026. This included moving the ticket gates and customer assistance area into a newly enlarged concourse space near the ticket office to allow more gates than had been possible in the previous location in the passageway to the footbridge.

The station buildings, including the footbridge, were awarded Grade II listed status by Historic England on 24 July 2026.

Locomotive shed

The three-track locomotive shed was sited to the east of the station on the south side of the line. The original 170-foot (52 m) shed was extended to 234 feet (71 m) in 1872 and further modernised facilities were brought into use five years later. Despite these alterations the space was too small to handle all the locomotives working in and out of the station so a new maintenance depot was opened at Exmouth Junction in 1887. A few sidings and the turntable was retained at Queen Street. This turntable was 42 feet (13 m) long but in 1888 it was replaced by a 50 feet (15 m) example.

Signalling

Exeter Central B signal box was in use from 1925 to 1970

In the 1860s there was just a single track to the East but two tracks to the West; all the points and signals were operated on the ground. The first signal boxes were brought into use in 1875 when three controlled the extensive layout: 'Queen Street A' and 'Queen Street B' at the east end of the station, with 'Queen Street C' situated at the west end between the two platforms. These signal boxes were all closed in the 1920s. The C box was replaced by a new one at the west end of the eastbound platform on 13 September 1925. The A and B boxes were replaced by a new, larger box on the north side of the line beyond the New North Road bridge on 15 November 1927. This was named 'Queen Street A' and the C box was renamed 'Queen Street B'; six years later they were renamed again as 'Exeter Central A' and 'Exeter Central B'.

The B box was closed on 23 February 1970 and the A box was then renamed just 'Exeter Central'. This too closed on 6 May 1985 when control was transferred to the new panel signal box at St Davids. With this change came resignalling; the westbound platform 2 was signalled for trains to run in either direction as was the westbound line to St Davids. The signals are interlocked so that trains cannot start from either St Davids or Central until their route is clear right through to their platform at the other station. This feature is replicated from the days of steam locomotives with less power or brakes than today's diesels when it was undesirable for trains to come to a stand on this steeply graded section of line.

Facilities

Although smaller than neighbouring St Davids, Exeter Central has similar facilities, including a ticket office and ticket machines, a car park, cycle parking, toilets, waiting rooms, help points and live departure screens. All three platforms have step-free access, although ramps may be needed to board and alight trains.

Passenger volume

Exeter Central sees the largest number of people entering and exiting of any station in Devon, although Exeter St Davids sees more passengers overall because of the large number changing trains there.

Entrances and exits recorded in the mid 2000s were around 1,000,000 but had reached 2,000,000 by 2014. In the accounting year 2025–2026 they amounted to 2,962,450 with interchanges estimated at 329,880.

Passenger volume at Exeter Central

	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23	2023–24	2024–25
Entries and exits	1,045,697	1,081,171	1,292,493	1,385,318	1,514,418	1,512,286	1,661,484	1,824,444	1,871,514	1,943,070	2,343,636	2,433,006	2,566,082	2,607,502	2,532,450	2,536,316	946,172	2,244,104	2,608,384	2,783,330	2,962,450
Interchanges	20,142	26,646	26,423	25,897	32,905	37,824	36,280	58,089	167,241	169,949	114,325	123,077	121,498	141,732	139,259	179,174	94,997	176,654	314,455	273,621	329,880

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

A GWR service at the station

Exeter Central is served by hourly trains on the West of England line operated by South Western Railway (SWR) from London Waterloo station to Exeter St Davids.

Local services are provided by Great Western Railway (GWR) on three routes. They operate twice an hour through most of the week on the Avocet Line from Exmouth to Exeter St Davids (from where they continue to Paignton). Further trains operate, generally once an hour, on both the Tarka Line to Barnstaple and on the Dartmoor Line to Okehampton. The SWR and GWR services combine to give up to five trains per hour each way between Exeter Central and Exeter St Davids.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Pinhoe		South Western Railway (West of England line)		Exeter St Davids
St James Park		Great Western Railway (Avocet Line)
Terminus		Great Western Railway (Tarka Line, Dartmoor Line)

See also

Exeter railway stations
Avocet Line to Exmouth Topsham Newcourt Digby & Sowton Polsloe Bridge West of England line to London Waterloo via Salisbury Pinhoe St James Park Exeter Central Bristol–Exeter line to Bristol and London Paddington Exeter St Davids Tarka Line to Barnstaple Exeter St Thomas Marsh Barton Riviera Line to Paignton & Exeter–Plymouth line to Plymouth and Penzance

• Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury

Bibliography

• Freezer, Cyril J. (1974). Track Plans. Beer, Seaton, Devon: Peco Publications & Publicity. ISBN 0-900586-36-2. Pages 16 to 20 contain a track plan of the station and plans for modelling it.
• Quick, Michael (2023). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society.

External links

• Video footage of Exeter Central Station
• Train times and station information for Exeter Central railway station from National Rail