Passenger trains have not travelled on the Teign Valley line between Newton Abbot to Heathfield since 1959, and in recent years, use of the line has dwindled to just the occasional freight train. The Newton Abbot to Heathfield Railway Revival Group, wants to see the line reopened as a way of easing transport pressures in the region as a commuter line and to give the tourist industry a boost.
 The idea of turning the railway into a commuter and/or heritage route could help connect industrial estate workers and residents to Newton Abbot and Torbay, while tourist trips to Dartmoor are another possibility. It could be opened for tourism with rail excursions, with its historical connections to Newton Abbot and the moors. This is an unused asset and the rail line could serve many people in many ways.
 There are the local communities of Bovey Tracey and Heathfield with the residents of these areas, there are the many workers at the Heathfield Industrial Estate who come in from Torbay, while tourists would see an opportunity of a gateway to the moor with the using of the Dartmoor Way to Mortonhampstead and the many hikers and cyclists this encourages would boost the local economy.