The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Main Line at . Despite its historic title, it is not today's principal route from London to the West of England: Exeter and everywhere further west are reached more quickly from London Paddington via the Reading–Taunton line. History Once all sections had been incorporated into the London and South Western Railway, the sections and branches were: Basingstoke to Salisbury Basingstoke to Andover, opened 3 July 1854 Andover to Salisbury, opened 1 May 1857 Branches: Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opened June 1901, closed 30 May 1936 From Hurstbourne and Andover to Romsey and on to Eastleigh and Southampton: both closed. Link via Longparish opened 1 June 1885; closed 6 July 1931. At Andover, junction with the Midland and South Western Junction Railway to Cheltenham Bulford Camp branch Salisbury to Romsey, with a branch to Bournemouth At Salisbury, the Great Western Railway (GWR) line from Westbury and Bristol had its own terminus: the L&SWR continued the route southeast towards Southampton. This route is known nowadays as the Wessex Main Line. Between Salisbury and Exeter: Salisbury to Yeovil, opened 2 May 1859 Yeovil to Exeter, opened 19 July 1860 Branches: To Yeovil Town (joint station with the GWR) To Chard (joint station with the GWR) To Lyme Regis from Axminster To Seaton from Seaton Junction (closed) To Sidmouth from Sidmouth Junction (also alternative route to Exmouth) To Exmouth from Exmouth Junction near Exeter The Beeching Report identified the duplication of routes from London to the West Country, therefore British Rail downgraded the line in 1967 by reducing long sections west of Salisbury to single track. This restricts the number of trains on this section, but passing loops have been added to alleviate this. Route Trains between London Waterloo and Exeter run on the South West Main Line as far as . The West of England Line diverges at Worting Junction, a short distance west of Basingstoke. Network Rail splits the line into two sections: the first section from the line's start at Worting Junction to Wilton Junction (near Salisbury) is classified as "London & SE commuter", while the section from Wilton Junction to Exeter is a "secondary" route. The secondary route