Eight years today (Friday 4 February) since the infamous 2014 storm severely damaged the railway on the South Devon coastline, Network Rail’s new sea wall project is making excellent progress and having a tangible and positive impact on the town and railway.
Since the start of construction on the first section of new, bigger sea wall in May 2019, the Dawlish coastline has undergone a mighty transformation.
The first section of new sea wall – which runs for 360 metres along Marine Parade south west of Dawlish station – was
completed in July 2020 and construction of the 415 metre second section – stretching from Coastguard breakwater east of Dawlish station to Colonnade breakwater –
began in November 2020.
Work on this second section is progressing well with Network Rail’s contractors BAM Nuttall having successfully installed all 143 concrete wall panels and curved wave returns on top of the panels that form the stretch of wall between the station building and Coastguard breakwater.
The innovative design of the wall panels and curved wave returns, coupled with the increased height of the wall, is having a noticeably positive impact keeping the tracks flood-free and train services running on this iconic stretch of railway.
The promenade along the second section is starting to take shape and the steps down to the beach at Coastguard breakwater have been completed, with Coastguard’s footbridge expected to reopen later this month.
The new sea wall is also benefitting from the latest in construction technology, with low carbon concrete being used as part of the concrete backfill,
reducing the carbon impact of this project by two-thirds.
While excellent progress has been made, there is still a lot of work to do, and engineers are now focussing efforts on temporarily diverting the Dawlish river water as part of work on the new stilling basin and continuing installing the remaining piles between the stilling basin and the station building.
Work is also underway to completely rebuild the seaward platform 1 (serving trains towards Teignmouth) and resurfacing the landward platform 2 (serving trains towards Exeter) with a team of engineers working around the clock over four consecutive weekends in February to complete this work, making it safer and easier for passengers to step onto and off trains.
GWR is asking those intending to travel during this period to plan ahead and check journey times before travelling.
It is anticipated that the promenade along the second section and between the first and second sections of sea wall will be completed and open to the public this summer, meaning residents and visitors alike will be able to walk between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren along the entire length of new sea wall.
The overall £80m Department for Transport-funded project – which will also see improvements made to Dawlish station including an accessible station footbridge with lifts – will be completed in 2023 and will protect the railway and town from rising sea levels and extreme weather for future generations.
www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk
