TRAIN passengers in Cornwall are being urged to check before they travel today as the weather has closed the lines between Exeter St Davids and Taunton and Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple.

The lines were expected to flood overnight, causing damage to a specialist building that houses safety critical signalling equipment.

To prevent this from happening, Network Rail installed a temporary flood barrier to protect the building, which had to be installed across the railway track.

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As a result no train services will be able to run on this section of the rail network. The flood barrier takes around six hours to put in place and work to install it began after the last train service on Saturday.

Network Rail, Great Western Railway and CrossCountry are urging passengers planning to travel in this area on Sunday to check before they travel via National Rail Enquiries or by visiting www.gwr.com or www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk.

Great Western Railway and CrossCountry are working to source bus replacement services where possible.

Great Western is advising its customers to only travel if necessary. A diversionary route via Yeovil is expected to be in operation, alongside alternative road transport.

This will be a reduced service, with trains busier and taking longer than usual. Customers choosing not to travel on Sunday can use their tickets on Monday or Tuesday, or claim their money back if they do not travel at all.

The flood barrier is expected to be removed on Sunday night, which should allow a full train service to operate on Monday morning.

A spokesperson said: "Network Rail, Great Western Railway and CrossCountry would like to reassure passengers that we are working closely together to keep train services moving and apologise for any disruption to journeys."

There is also work ongoing between Truro and Penzance.