The Maritime Line is a railway line that runs in the valley of the River Fal from Truro, the county town, to Falmouth on the south coast of Cornwall, England. History The railway line, now known as The Maritime Line, was built by the Cornwall Railway as a broad gauge line of gauge from Plymouth to Falmouth. The purpose of the scheme was to link London with Falmouth, a port where packet ships sailed to destinations in Europe, Africa, and America. As the main line of the company, the line was intended to be constructed as double-track throughout. Construction commenced in 1847 but the main contractor suffered financial problems which put a temporary stop to any work. Efforts restarted in 1859 on completion of the line from Plymouth to Truro which opened on 4 May that year. The inhabitants of Falmouth soon put pressure on the company to complete the line to their town as originally intended, and a further Act of Parliament was obtained in 1861. The line was costly to build with six viaducts and two tunnels and it opened on 24 August 1863, by which time the packet ships had been diverted elsewhere. The connection from Falmouth station to the docks was opened in 1864. After the West Cornwall Railway was converted to broad gauge in 1867, the Truro to Falmouth line tended to be operated as a branch, with the trains from London Paddington operating to Penzance instead. The original stations on the line were at , (known as Perran until 19 February 1864), and Falmouth (now Falmouth Docks). was added on 1 July 1925, and (originally known as Falmouth and later as The Dell) opened on 7 December 1970. The line terminated at the Town station for five years before reopening to the original terminus at the docks in 1975 to permit through services from London. Great Western and BR The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. Following the amalgamation, plans were put in place for conversion to standard gauge, which took place over the weekend of 21 May 1892. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948. Privatisation Britain's railways were privatised in the 1990s. At privatisation, the line was operated by Wales & West train operating company for a few years until the company split. From 14 October 2001, the Maritime