After a break for the summer tourist season, Network Rail is restarting its upgrade of the sea wall at Dawlish, Devon, so as to provide greater protection to the railway and town from rising sea levels and extreme weather. The upgrade will now continue through to its completion in spring 2020.
Once complete the new sea wall will be 2.5 metres higher than the existing wall, have a curved edge to send waves back towards the sea and have a wider safer promenade with seating which will keep the clear views of the coast that the existing wall has.
Rebuilding the sea wall is vital, not just for Dawlish, but for the whole of the South West peninsula as the railway connects communities in 50 towns and cities in Devon and Cornwall with the rest of the UK.
Due to its location, the timing of any day’s work depends on the tides, with engineers working for five hours either side of each low tide.
Network Rail’s senior programme manager for the Dawlish sea wall project, David Lovell, said: “We are looking forward to restarting work on delivering this vital upgrade that will protect the rail artery to the south west for the next 100 years.
“Our plans have been drawn up by world leading engineers and it will provide greater protection to the railway and town from rising sea levels and extreme weather.
“We will continue to update the community with how our work is progressing.”
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