S&C reopens
Settle-Carlisle Line opens in full after Network Rail completes £23m repairs to landslip at Eden Brows.
PASSENGERS can once again ride the full length of the Settle-Carlisle Line (S&C), following Network Rail’s’ completion of repairs costing £23 million to a landslip at Eden Brows.
The section of the S&C north of Armathwaite had been closed since February 9 2016. Once final tests were complete, the first passenger train to travel the full route was Northern’s March 31 0550 CarlisleLeeds, which arrived on time having left Carlisle a minute late.
Later that morning a celebratory railtour ran from Oxenhope to Carlisle behind 60103 Flying Scotsman. The train started at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway’s’ southern terminus and traversed the link between KWVR and NR lines at Keighley, before continuing north.
Northern Regional Director Paul Barnfield said: “The Eden Brows engineering project has been a mammoth task for Network Rail, and we are delighted to once again be able to offer a direct train service between Settle and Carlisle. We’d like to thank our customers for their patience and look forward to welcoming them back to this iconic stretch of railway.”
Network Rail’s London North Western Route Managing Director Martin Frobisher said: “I am beyond thrilled that customers and goods are moving again on this vital economic artery through Britain’s most beautiful landscape. Our orange army has ensured that even if the ground gives way again in future, the railway will not.”
The scenic rail route is popular with tourists and walkers. It also has a passionate support group - the Friends of the Settle and Carlisle Line, whose chairman Douglas Hodgins said: “It is great to be back in business. We shall be working tirelessly with the railway industry to ensure the line regains its role as a through route to Carlisle and Scotland as quickly as possible - and to seeing the splendours of the Eden Gorge from the trains again.”
The slip resulted in 100 metres of track dropping 1.5 metres towards the River Eden, which runs 70 metres below. NR claims the size and scale of the repair, coupled with the site’s poor access, made it the biggest repair challenge the company has ever faced. This claim comes with the company having repaired Dawlish sea wall in 2014 and the line along Shakespeare Cliff near Dover last year.
For Eden Brows, contractor Story Rail built what was essentially a buried viaduct with a 1.5-metrethick concrete deck supported by concrete piles that reach down to bedrock. This structure is designed to cope with further landslips.
Train operator Northern has resumed its normal service over the line, which consists of seven trains per day each way over the entire route on weekdays (the 0947 from Leeds and 1506 from Carlisle run as limited-stop services). Seven trains each way run on Saturdays