Conwy Valley Line
How Network Rail took advantage of the lockdown to carry out vital additional resilience work on the Conwy Valley Line.
After flooding at the start of the year washed away the Conwy Valley Line, lockdown gave Network Rail an opportunity to carry out additional resilience work, on top of reinstating and reopening the line, that will mitigate the risk of closure from future washouts. ANDREW MOURANT reports
Are the days of disruptive flooding and closures lasting months finally over for the Conwy Valley Line?
It now appears better defended than at any time in its 137-year history and (Network Rail hopes) equipped to cope with whatever the weather throws at it.
It’s a much-loved route. The first section from Llandudno Junction to Llanrwst opened in 1863, and it finally reached Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1881.
Heading south beyond Betws-y-Coed, it continues along the banks of the river Lledr. Near Ffestiniog, it runs into the UK’s longest single-track tunnel (2.2 miles). The line’s summit, 790 feet above sea level, lies midway through the journey.
Currently, six trains run each way MondaySaturday between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog, and four run on Sundays - a timetable for tourists. Mostly single-track, many of the line’s 27 miles run through fields. A journey along the Conwy Valley line is one to savour for aficionados of scenic railways.
But with greater resilience may come greater use. Little has been heard lately of Gwynedd Council’s campaign for the line to be upgraded for freight use, enabling it to haul slate waste from Blaenau Ffestiniog for export to Europe. But as long ago as 2008, the Welsh Government agreed to examine the idea, with talk of a £19 million upgrade.
It would mean things have gone full circle, for the line’s original purpose was transporting slate from Ffestiniog quarries to a quay at Deganwy for shipping abroad.
A pipe dream or a real possibility? There may be something in the wind, according to NR.
“We’re in talks with a third party about reinstating some services and the required upgrades to the line… but it’s early days and there is much to do before it can happen,” a source tells RAIL.
Much depends on making the line as weatherproof as possible. Storms in the past two years have washed away significant chunks of track. In February 2020, Storm Ciara
Extensive defences are the only solution - we would have to have done it at some time or another.
Alex Hinshelwood, Project Sponsor, Network Rail
brought 90mph winds, extreme rainfall and flooding across Wales. On the Conwy Valley Line, north of Llanrwst, ballast supporting the track was washed away and fencing and level crossings damaged.
These aren’t the only floods to have plagued the line in recent times - there were similar inundations in 2004, 2005, 2015 and 2019. But the downpours of Ciara marked a turning point, and COVID-19 - a plague in so many senses - has helped its fortunes.
Lockdown kept away tourists - the walkers, cyclists and sightseers whose custom is the Conwy Valley Line’s lifeblood. If ever the time were ripe for prolonged closure and installing rock-armour defences, this was surely it.
“An opportunity came with COVID,” NR Project Sponsor Alex Hinshelwood tells RAIL.
“We were very limited to what work we could take on because of social distancing, but this is mainly machine working so distancing isn’t a problem.”
The newly reinforced line is due to reopen on September 7. Putting in rock armour extended the closure by ten weeks, but NR insists that “the investment and continued disruption to passengers will be worth it to mitigate the risk of future long closures due to wash-outs”.
Adds Hinshelwood: “Extensive defences are the only solution - we would have to have done it at some time or another. The alternative to closure would have been blockades and working in blocks, and who knows how long that would have taken?”
He says the project has run ahead of schedule, with teams working six days a week. Positioning huge boulders - 20,000 tonnes in total over an 1,800-metre stretch between Tal y Cafn and Llanrwst (from Abbey Farm Crossing and Tyn-Ddol crossing) - is a big job but “extremely repetitive”. Once in the swing of things, the team was able to pick up speed.
Key personnel who are familiar with the lie of the land have worked at other trouble spots along the line. The job is being delivered by
NR’s own people - the project team, the internal design team, and trusted sub-contractors.
“We’ve taken all the challenges of topography and weather in our stride,” says Hinshelwood.
It’s largely the same group who worked on a washed away 100-metre stretch in 2019, and Hinshelwood believes that level of continuity has been hugely important.
“We didn’t have to learn about the Conwy Valley. We know what the problems are and where the failures are. If someone knows how the water flows, that’s half the battle.”
Rock armour was first used on the line “in a very small way” after floods in 2005,
and more extensively last year when an embankment had to be reinstated.
“The destructive problem with flooding is when water washes over the railway and runs down the other side,” explains Hinshelwood.
“If it keeps coming, it starts to accelerate, to scour and create turbulence, picking up everlarger material the faster it washes across. You can’t stop it, but rock armour slows it to a point where it doesn’t wash ballast or embankment material away.”
To ensure maximum stability, the boulders have been covered with a binding protective mesh.
“We were worried about them being dislodged and undermined - you only need one to move and the whole lot moves. Mesh will hold it in place and provide extra resilience.”
When the line closed in March 16 2019, after Storm Gareth, it was discovered that torrential rain had washed out ballast and damaged infrastructure over a six-mile stretch.
Flooding was caused by a combination of high tide and a low-pressure system, and Dolgarrog station, ten level crossings and nine culverts needed repair. The job included removing 8,000 tonnes of wash out materials, installing extra culverts and a stretch of rock armour.
The stone, along with 3,000 tonnes of ballast, was delivered from nearby quarries. Sustainability was a priority for the project, with 91% of washout material recycled and 5,000 tonnes of topsoil reused. All vegetation and tree stumps were sent to a local recycling facility to be
We didn’t have to learn about the Conwy Valley. We know what the problems are and where the failures are. If someone knows how the water flows, that’s half the battle.
Alex Hinshelwood, Project Sponsor, Network Rail
turned into biomass. This year, where possible, excavated material has been recycled on site.
Recovery from 2019 has been a long haul.
The line had to close again from November 22-December 15 2019 for a second phase of upgrade. Work continued to replace the flooddamaged platform at Dolgarrog station, which remained closed. There was also the need to install 600 rock bolts in the Ffestiniog Tunnel, replace sleepers along the line, and carry out vegetation management. The total cost was £ 8m.
One tangible benefit to passengers was that it was possible to increase the line speed through Maenan, on the section of line between Dolgarrog and Llanrwst North, from 30mph to 45mph. The 30mph limit had been in place since the 1980s.
Hinshelwood says he had “the biggest smile on my face for a long time” when he learned that no rocks from the 2019 project had been dislodged by the 2020 deluge. He’s confident that the measures taken are a viable long-term solution, even if the weather gets more extreme. The bill for this year’s work will be around £ 3m.
“We’ve now protected the line from similarsized flooding - events and bigger ones,” he says.
That’s quite some claim for a line where floods have often had the upper hand in the past 16 years, causing track bed and embankments to be rebuilt.
In 2004, after heavy rain fell on sodden ground, floods put the line out of action from February until May.
In December 2015, floodwater caused damage in 100 places following a Boxing Day deluge, leaving gaping holes in the track. At a section near Llanrwst, around 1,200 tonnes of material had to be removed before a collapsed embankment could be rebuilt.
In 2017, Storm Doris let rip, causing closure from February-April when a tree fell on the track near Pont-y-Pant. Clearing up rock and fallen vegetation at such an awkward site required a team of specialist geoengineers.
And it’s not only damage to the track that has created headaches. Water damage to the roof and rockfall caused closure of the Ffestiniog Tunnel in October 2017 and January 2019.
Now NR is examining other trouble spots where rock armour could work, such as stretches of flood-prone track near Abergavenny and Machynlleth.
COVID-19 has put paid to a celebratory reopening. After last year’s repairs, the
Conwy Valley Line reopened for passengers in July ahead of the National Eisteddfod in Llanrwst, and in August NR and Transport for Wales arranged a special steam train trip. Conwy Quest, hauled by double-headed steam locomotives 48151 and 46115, ran from Chester to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
There’ll be no such fanfare in 2020, but September’s reopening could mark a major turning point in the line’s waterlogged history. R