Landslip at Honiton closes Salisbury-Exeter line
A landslip at the entrance to Honiton tunnel closed the West of England line on November 21/22.
The incident followed prolonged heavy rain, at a site where Network Rail was already carrying out work to the slopes of a steep cutting, with the aim of preventing landslips. Services from London terminated at Axminster.
The route was already due to close for ten days in December, for further work.
Network Rail Wessex Route Director Mark Killick said the landslip showed the need for more stabilisation: “We’ve been carrying out work right along the line to prevent this sort of thing. But there is still work to be done and the extreme weather has resulted in some material coming down onto the track.”
The rainfall on November 21 also led to cancellation of Great Western Railway services between Exeter and Okehampton and between Exeter and Barnstaple, with flooding between Crediton and Yeoford. In Cornwall, the Par-Newquay branch was flooded, and several roads were affected including the M5 in Devon.
The West of England line had only returned to normal a week earlier, on November 14, after months of an emergency timetable due to summer drought.
Trains had been restricted to 40mph between Tisbury and Gillingham, and also near Axminster, because clay embankments had shrunk following months with almost no rain, causing the tracks to become uneven.
The combined disruption means passengers on the West of England line will have seen a full service for only five weeks between early August and Christmas.