WITH THE FIRST PHASE OF COASTAL RESILIENCE WORK NEARLY COMPLETE, MORE IS IN THE PIPELINE, AS PHILIP SHERRATT REPORTS
Exeter to Newton Abbot is one of the most iconic stretches of railway in the UK. But it is also vulnerable to inclement weather, an issue Network Rail’s programme of coastal resilience works is aiming to address, with the first phase at Dawlish nearly complete.
The programme was prompted by the storms in early 2014 which washed away the railway, highlighting the fragility of the only rail link serving south Devon and continuing into Cornwall. Network Rail identified priority interventions where the risk of damage to the railway was greatest and has developed a programme in five phases to address these.
DAWLISH FIRST
The initial focus is on the stretch through Dawlish itself. In our feature on the programme 12 months ago (p72, August 2019 issue), we reported on the start of work on the Marine Parade section between Dawlish station and Kennaway Tunnel, where NR is raising the height of the sea wall and installing a new recurve in the face of the wall with the aim of reducing wave overtopping onto the railway.
Bam Nuttall is Network Rail’s contractor for this work, which is now nearing compl…
