Western Morning News (Saturday)
New funding to safeguard coastal rail line
THE Westcountry’s vital rail link at Dawlish has received a £32million funding boost to help protect it from storm damage. It brings the total amount invested to secure the future of the railway up to more than £150million.
The latest cash injection, announced by rail minister Wendy Morton yesterday, will fund netting and fencing to protect passengers and work to safeguard access to the network for local residents. It will prevent storm debris reaching the railway, creating safer and more reliable journeys.
Following the devastating storms of 2014, which saw the railway damaged beyond use for eight weeks, the government intervened to prevent it from happening again by launching the South West Rail Resilience Programme (SWRRP). The £155m project is aimed at ensuring local communities are no longer at risk of being disconnected from the network for long periods of time.
So far, the funding has already resulted in successfully rebuilding the sea wall along the Marine Parade, added further cliff protection measures and implementing accessibility improvements.
Rail minister Wendy Norton said: “Devon’s iconic sea wall, and the picturesque towns surrounding it, are jewels in the British crown, and we’re committed to protecting this vital line and the communities it serves. Through our wider £155m investment, we’re also working to boost connectivity and support the thriving local economy and tourism.”
The new funding is part of the SWRRP £155m government investment to level up connections in the South West and deliver reliable and punctual journeys across Devon and Cornwall, boosting the local economy and tourism in the process.
This includes a £53m complete upgrade to the train care depot in Exeter improving service reliability and capacity for passengers across the region, and £80m of funding to deliver a new sea wall at Dawlish, between Colonnades Bridge and Kennaway Tunnel, which opened in 2020 with the next phase of work to the east, currently under construction.
Mike Gallop, Network Rail’s Western route director, said: “We are delighted to once again receive the support from government which enables us to carry out the next phase of our resilience work between Dawlish and Teignmouth. This will mean that passengers using GWR and CrossCountry services on this vital rail link to and from the South West will have more reliable journeys as the railway along the Devon coast will be better protected from rising sea levels, extreme weather, landslips and rockfalls for the next 100 years.”