Salisbury line reopens after temporary repair to landslip

The line between Salisbury and Southampton reopened on March 28, six weeks after a landslip caused by flooding ( RAIL 900).

Network Rail carried out a temporary repair to an undermined embankment at Milford, on the eastern edge of Salisbury. It involved building an access road across a flooded field, and 250 metres of 13-metre-deep steel sheets tied together through the embankment beneath the tracks.

The route carries Great Western Railway trains connecting the South Coast with Bristol and

South Wales, as well as South Western Railway local services. Buses had replaced all services since February 18. It is also a busy freight route serving Southampton docks.

Repairs were hampered by the field alongside being under a metre of floodwater from the River Bourne. The only access for heavy machinery was across the flooded land, reached from a narrow and busy country lane and a medieval bridge that is listed as an historic structure.

The repairs have been very disruptive for local residents, including the large Milford

House Care Home immediately alongside, with work taking place 24 hours a day. Osborne has been the contractor for the project.

Network Rail Wessex Route Director Mark Killick said: “Many people’s journeys over the last few weeks will have been longer than expected and for that I can only apologise. Our priority was to make the railway safe and get the line open for passengers and freight as soon as possible.”

The line is used by commuters into Southampton and, until the Coronavirus crisis, by children attending schools and colleges in Salisbury.

Both passenger operators now run reduced services. GWR resumed two-hourly trains (half the normal frequency) from March 28. SWR services were restored on March 30.

Throughout the closure to passenger services, a small number of freight trains had been allowed through at reduced speed and on one line only, with local signalling. Network Rail said that delays to passenger trains would have been so lengthy under these conditions that it was agreed none should operate.

Local SWR trains to Southampton were converted into a simple loop service between Southampton Central, Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford, Romsey and back

to Southampton Central. GWR services terminated at Salisbury.

A permanent repair to the damaged embankment is expected to take several months.

NETWORK RAIL. Repairs to the railway near Salisbury have been completed to enable trains to run again on the Southampton line. However, more permanent repairs are required, and these will take several months.