Media centre

Thursday 1 Dec 2022

Dropping the curtain on silt-risk from Levenmouth scour works

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Work is underway on the Levenmouth Rail Link project to protect the future railway from the impact of the adjacent river.

The addition of scour protection at a number of locations along the railway will help reduce the impact on the adjacent river’s banks from the natural erosion that takes place over time as a result of the continuous movement of water.

From monitoring the river, a number of sites were identified as in need of reinforcement.  The riverbanks at these locations were stabilised and voids were infilled before ‘rock armour’ was positioned to protect the area. This involved positioning large boulders in the river to change its course and to stop the river waves from reaching the newly strengthened embankments.

To date more than 2,000 tonnes of locally sourced ‘rock armour’ has been deployed to protect the new railway. And while necessary at specific locations, this is in addition to more natural flood management measures being undertaken along the rail corridor in conjunction with the wider Leven Programme.

The restoration options being proposed within the 2 ½ mile stretch of the River Leven from Windygates to the river mouth include placing large wood including the root plate into the river to improve habitat and flow diversity, enhancement of wetland and wet woodland habitat, modifications to Kirkland and Burn Mill Dams to help improve fish passage and naturally re-profiling the banks of the lower Kennoway Burn to improve its connection to the floodplain.

Reinstating the railway adjacent to the River Leven was always going to present challenges to the project to find ways to protect the railway from the river - but also to protect the river from any impact during construction work. 

One risk to the river from placing rock armour is from silt. The project team were able to use bubble curtains and silt bags to reduce the risk to the aquaculture from the construction work.

Bubble curtains are created by gasses being let out on the riverbed and when they rise they act as a barrier to stop the formation of waves and block the spread of contaminants, including silt and plastics.

Joe Mulvenna, Project Manager for the Levenmouth Rail Link Project said “It’s important that we work with the river and not against it to ensure that the railway is protected from the impact of more frequent and more intense spells of wet weather and the flooding it could cause.

“Strengthening and reinforcing embankments and defending them with the addition of rock armour is one element of our plan to do this but we are working with partners to enable the addition of more natural measures to protect the embankments and to allow the river to work more naturally.

“And while we carry out the work, utilising innovative measures like bubble curtains is just one way we are reducing the risk to the river from the adjacent construction activities.”