Media centre

Friday 4 Apr 2014

Dawlish railway reopens in time for Easter holidays as Network Rail's 'orange army' wins its war with the elements

Region & Route:

National

The communities and businesses of south and west Devon and Cornwall were celebrating today as their rail link with the rest of the country was restored in time for the Easter holidays, following eight weeks of painstaking repairs to the storm-ravaged railway at Dawlish.

Mark Carne, chief executive, Network Rail, said: “Our army of engineers has done an amazing job of putting back together a railway that was ravaged by the elements. They have overcome every obstacle thrown at them, winning many battles along the way to restore this critical piece of the network, ahead of schedule, and in time for the Easter holidays.

“The biggest thanks must be reserved for passengers and local communities and businesses who have been hugely supportive and patient over the past two months as we worked flat-out to rebuild this vital rail link.

“Our focus now moves to the medium and long-term looking at what can be done at Dawlish to make the current coastal route more resilient and, by the autumn, understand what the best viable relief route might be.”

Network Rail’s army of 300-strong engineers, known locally as the ‘orange army’, has battled for over two months to overcome every obstacle thrown at it by Mother Nature; work that has included:

• Building a temporary sea wall from 18 welded shipping containers to protect homes and engineers as they worked to repair a 100m breach at Riviera Terrace, Dawlish, following storms on 4 and 14 February
• Rebuilt and fortified the breach with more than 6000 tonnes of concrete and 150 tonnes of steel
• Removed 25,000 tonnes of collapsed cliff at Woodlands Avenue, Teignmouth, following a landslip on 4 March, using high pressure water canon, fire hoses, helicopter-borne water bombs, specialist roped access team and ‘spider’ excavators
• Repaired dozens of other sites along a four mile stretch of coastal railway, clearing hundred of tonnes of debris and repairing over 600m of parapet wall
• Rebuilt half of Dawlish station with a new platform, new canopy and repainting throughout with the finishing touches provided by TV gardener, Toby Buckland, and members of the ‘Friends of Dawlish station’
• Installed over 13 miles of new cables, designed and installed a new temporary signalling system and replaced over 700m of track and ballast

David Cameron, Prime Minister, said: “This is a great day for the hard-working people of Dawlish, and for businesses and commuters across the South West whose lives have been turned upside down by the devastating loss of their train line. Back in February when I visited the town to see the damage for myself, I promised to do everything I could to get this vital artery back up and running as quickly as possible. I am delighted to say that promise has been delivered today. A promise which says that the South West is well and truly open for business.

“The impact of the extreme weather shows the importance of making our railways strong enough to weather any storm. That is why we announced a £31 million package of improvements and asked Network Rail to examine every option to ensure the resilience of this route, all part of our long-term economic plan to boost business and create more jobs in the region.”

Andy Crowley from AMCOrail, one of Network Rail’s key contractors, said: "It has been an incredible eight weeks. Everyone has pulled together and come up with so many innovative engineering solutions to solve some of the tremendous obstacles we've had to overcome. No-one will forget the great sense of family and belonging that has been built up over the last two months. The support from both the community and local businesses has been overwhelming."

Mark Hopwood, managing director for First Great Western, said: "The reopening of the railway line is good news for the South West and for our passengers. The railway plays a vital role in the prosperity of the region, and we are grateful to the hard work Network Rail and their teams have put in to get this line up and running as quickly a possible.

"Over the past two months we've put on thousands of extra buses and drafted in volunteers from FirstGroup companies across the UK to keep people moving. Throughout it all, our customers have been extremely patient and I would like to thank them for their support.”

Andy Cooper, managing director for CrossCountry, said: “Reopening the railway through Dawlish is a magnificent achievement and we are indebted to the ‘orange army’ for all they have done. We are also grateful to our customers for their patience and understanding over the last two months while the repair work took place.”

“All our services will be running as of today and we are already taking bookings for journeys from all over the country to destinations in Devon and Cornwall for Easter and summer and will do all we can to ensure people across the country know the region is again fully open for business.”

With the most critical phase of the restoration now completed and the line reopened, engineers will now move to the less critical phase that includes:

• Fully restoring the signalling and electronic equipment – currently a normal service is running with some minor retiming owing to a temporary signalling solution being in place
• Removing the shipping container temporary sea wall
• Rebuilding Brunel’s original sea-wall at the breach site using original stone and craftsmen repairing
• Restoring the public footpath on the seaward side of the sea wall so the much loved coastal path from Dawlish to Teignmouth can reopen
• Rebuilding the ‘lost road’ at Riviera Terrace so residents cut off by the breach can fully return to their homes again

Tom Kirkham, Network Rail’s on-site engineer said: “The only reason we have been able to open the railway today is due to the monumental efforts of all the people who have worked night and day to meet the deadline.

“It has been a genuine team effort, from the guys installing the container breakwater during howling storms, the roped access teams scaling the cliffs to the track workers pushing all the way to cross the finishing line.

“We have had incredible support from outside groups, including the fire & rescue service, the police and the army all who have each contributed enormously. The local community’s support of the ‘orange army’ has been immense as has their patience and understanding. Dawlish, welcome back to your railway!”