The lead contractor on the breach repair was BAM Nuttall, while Sisk was responsible for the platform repairs, and Tony Gee, Amco and Dyer & Butler were subcontracted. The Army and Royal Marines were also instrumental in several key parts of the project.
Re-opening has now been set for Friday 4 April, almost two weeks earlier than the previous mid-April estimate.
The storms on the 5th and 14th February separately caused extensive damage across the 3.7-mile coastal route between Dawlish and Teignmouth, cutting off West Devon and Cornwall from the national rail network. Besides the 100m breach of the seawall at Riviera Terrace, there were also smaller secondary breaches at Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth and five landslips around Smugglers’ Cove.
A total of 18 steel containers have been installed at the main breach to serve as temporary breakwater and a scaffolding bridge has been built to reconnect the Global Crossing Cable.
The main breach has been repaired with nearly 5,000 tonnes of concrete and 150 tonnes of steel, and a new 200m track is ready-built for installation. The 300-strong workforce is now focused on installing 120m of large concrete wall sections, repairing 525m of parapet walls and renewing 13 miles of cables between Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth.
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Studies are also now under way to identify an engineering option to boost the resilience of the sea defences and to examine the opportunities for an additional inland route.
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “I saw for myself the scale of the damage to the line at Dawlish caused by the recent exceptionally bad weather. I know that Network Rail staff have been working tirelessly to get the line up and running as soon as possible. I would like to thank everyone for their hard work so far.”
Network Rail’s Western route managing director, Patrick Hallgate, said: “We are determined to complete this work in time for the school holidays to support the vital tourism trade in Dawlish, South Devon and across the south west of England. An unfortunate event like the one experienced at Dawlish shows how important the railway is to the region’s people and its economy and I hope our efforts to restore here show how seriously we treat that responsibility.
“Even when Dawlish is complete, a great deal of work remains elsewhere. First we will bring the railway back to full capacity; then we will create solutions that will protect this vital national asset for the future. We are tackling that process head-on.”
Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: “This is just one example of the extraordinary efforts by the railway industry to restore services after the unprecedented floods and storms of this winter that affected many passengers up and down the country.”
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