Dawlish Sea Wall
Network Rail progresses on Dawlish Sea Wall, but finishing touches to Phase 1 delayed by COVID-19 disrupting suppliers.
DISRUPTION caused to suppliers by the COVID-19 pandemic means Network Rail does not expect to complete Phase 1 of its Dawlish resilience programme until September.
The final recurve panels on the Sea Wall section were installed at the end of June, but NR says some items such as lighting and benches will not be finished until work resumes in September. However, Dawlish beach will be clear of plant and machinery for tourists during the summer.
Plans have been submitted to Teignbridge District Council for Phase 2 of the project, which covers Dawlish station and a section to its east. It is expected to go before the planning committee in August and, if approved, contractors could be on site as early as October.
The Coastguards boathouse, which unlike the station buildings isn’t listed, is to be demolished to make way for the raised promenade. Because its rear forms part of the retaining wall of the railway, relocation was not regarded as a viable option.
Although initial thoughts for Phase 2 were to retain a low promenade, modelling revealed that it would ‘trip’ waves up and onto the station, hence the need for a 6.8-metre-high promenade with eight-metre-high recurve panels.
Unlike in Phase 1, which required extensive plant on the beach, the second wave of the project will use a jack-up barge to screw piles for the foundations of the new defences.
An accessible footbridge at the station is also to be built, with construction to take place after the promenade is completed. An engineering possession over Christmas 2021 is planned to complete this, which is being funded separately from the resilience works. The costs have not been revealed in detail, but NR says it expects Phase 1 of the works to be less than the £36 million originally envisaged.
Design work is now complete on the Parsons Tunnel North programme, which envisages a 209-metre rockfall shelter built
from a jack-up barge as there is no road access. The business case is due to be submitted to the Department for Transport, with a decision hoped for at the end of the year. Construction time is estimated at 18 months to two years.
A consultation report on the Parsons Tunnel to Teignmouth section, which involves constructing a seaward deviation of the main line and extensive strengthening of the cliffs, is being finalised so that Network Rail can identify areas of the design which need to be refined.
It hopes to submit a Transport and Works Act Order application later this year or early in 2021, but it acknowledges there is still “a lot of work to do” to refine the design.