SideTracked – Newcourt Traditional Geocache

A new train station most definitely deserves a new SideTracked cache! The cache is placed on a public footpath and the walk to GZ is on flat terrain. Wheelchair users will be fine but may need help to retrieve the cache. No room for cache items and you will need to bring your own pen. Something to extract the log would also help. This is a new residential area and, if parking for a cache and dash, please check you have parked responsibly and not in someone’s allocated space!

Newcourt (Exeter) railway station is a new railway station constructed to serve the Newcourt area of Exeter, England, on the Avocet Line. The station is sited between Digby & Sowton and Topsham.

Following meetings in September and November 2010, a masterplan for the redevelopment of the Newcourt area of Exeter was approved by Exeter City Council. The masterplan set out the basis upon which an area of land to the east of Exeter city centre bounded by Topsham Road to the south west, the A379 to the north and Rydon Lane to the west could be sustainably developed to provide 16 hectares (40 acres) of employment land and 3,500 dwellings. As the masterplan did not assess the transport implications of the proposed development, a supplementary report was published in January 2011 by Devon County Council which identified rail transport as having the greatest potential to reduce levels of private car use. There were no technical reasons why a single-platform halt could not be provided at Newcourt, in a similar manner to that at Digby and Sowton. According to the report, modelling work had shown that a station at Newcourt would generate at least 500 individual daily journeys, which would mitigate the impacts of the Newcourt development at the already congested road junctions of Countess Wear and junction 30 of the M5. Provision of the station was costed at £4 million. In May 2013, it was announced that Newcourt would be one of four stations to benefit from the Coalition government's New Station Fund together with Ilkeston (Derbyshire), Lea Bridge (London) and Pye Corner (South Wales). The fund would provide £1.5 million towards the station and the remainder would come from developers' contributions.

Newcourt station opened in June 2015 and has a half-hourly service, with journey times into central Exeter of around 10 minutes. The single platform is 124 metres (407 ft) long and a passenger shelter, ticket machine and customer information system has also been provided. Pedestrian access is from Liberty Way and a small drop-off area and disabled parking has been created. Provision has also been made for a future underpass crossing.

The station could form part of the proposed "Devon Metro" rail network to increase connectivity to and from commuter towns such as Exmouth and Cullompton, with new stations at Marsh Barton, Monkerton and Cranbrook.

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