Three railway lines will remain closed until further notice to allow engineers to complete safety inspections.

Engineers have completed repair work on the Barnstaple and Okehampton lines, but specialist diving teams now need to inspect structures on the lines to make sure that water hasn’t caused any damage.

However, the water is still too high and flowing too fast for divers to do this safely.

This means that the line between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple, Exeter St Davids and Okehampton and Liskeard and Looe will remain closed.

A bus service is in operation between Exeter and Okehampton, running express .

An hourly coach service will also run between Exeter and Barnstaple, and a Bus will run in place of trains to service the Liskeard to Looe line.

“We’re really sorry for the continued disruption on these lines following Storm Chandra last week.

“GWR and Network Rail teams have been working tirelessly to safely keep customers moving wherever possible. We’ve been able to fix the problems we can see, but it’s really important to make sure that underwater structures remain sound and it’s not safe for divers to enter the water yet. 

“We’re working with our weather forecasting teams and monitoring the river levels so that the divers can enter the water as soon as conditions allow. Please continue to check gwr.com for the latest updates.”

Daryn McCombe, director of performance and train service delivery for GWR and director of network operations at Network Rail’s Western route