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Thursday 19 Dec 2013

Railway at Devon geared up to combat extreme weather

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

A year on since the floods in 2012, Network Rail has invested around £5m in a combination of resilient measures to help protect the railway around Devon from weather impact.

 

Amongst these measures is a set of inflatable dams to protect railway infrastructure, including track bed and signalling cables, from being damaged by floods. The dams, made of synthetic fabric, will help divert water away from the railway track and speed up the recovery process.

In addition, Network Rail has carried out a programme of work to secure lineside equipment from floods with new protective bases as well as install netting on Teignmouth cliffs to prevent rockfall. The nettings are also equipped with a remote monitoring system to help understand the severity of rock movement.

Drainage systems work at Whiteball tunnel near Tiverton and around Hele and Bradnich have also been carried out as part of the new resilient measures.

Mike Gallop, Network Rail’s route asset management director said: " Extreme weather has had a hugely disruptive impact on the railway. After the floods last year we took immediate steps to review our infrastructure and put in place new measures to help boost the resilience of the railway.

“We are also taking a long-term approach to prepare us for the changing weather and climate over the next 70 to 80 years. As part of this process, we are developing a high-level strategy that includes a £31m intervention plan targeting high risk flood sites such as Cowley Junction. This plan, subject to approval from the government, combines a series of measures including lifting track, upgrading culverts, strengthening earthworks and a new monitoring system."

Around 70% of November’s rainfall landed in seven days, leading to 31 floods across the Western route – railway covering the South West of England and the Thames Valley - in that month alone. Disruption to passengers and freight on the Western route was widespread with over 700 cancellations and 129,000 delay minutes owing to these incidents.

The railway at Cowley Junction was amongst the locations worst hit with 34,000 mins of delays recorded owing to the extreme weather.

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