Dawlish Avoiding Line - ongoing discussion, merged topic

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

We have had just a little bit of rain down here in Devon and the regular scare stories, made even more 'newsworthy' by last years events have already started!

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Trains-cancelled-8220-hug-waves-8221-crash/story-24513365-detail/story.html

[Super Guard]

Crosscountry services were cancelled for a time this morning as NR^» (Network Rail - home page) do not allow the voyagers to run through Dawlish with the conditions what they were.  FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services ran, albeit slightly delayed.  The media were un-necessarily saying all trains were cancelled between Plymouth & Exeter at one point though  .

[PhilWakely]

and the latest.......

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Campaign-launched-concern-raised-fresh-damage-sea/story-24518621-detail/story.html

Seems some of the repairs have already been damaged!

[ChrisB]

The photo in that article is worth linking to here -



and

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks, ChrisB.  The video link is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHRgk0_KtMM 

[Rapidash]

The Spotlight South West bit on the Wall this evening was bloomin' scaremongering at its best. You'd think it was about collapse in an instant, which wasn't quite what I noticed when I'd been on it less than an hour earlier 

[Surrey 455]

My parents were in Dawlish earlier today and they tell me that pedestrian access to the sea wall was closed off and that some rather large stones / small rocks the size of bricks had been thrown up from the beach. It's a nice walk along that sea wall, but not today.

[Rapidash]

It's just your bog standard winter weather. No one particularly minded before the Great Smoting when it has brief closures.

[JayMac]

Still, another example of the problems caused by inclement weather. It may be bog standard for Dawlish, but tell that to CrossCountry passengers whose journeys were affected.

Those Voyagers could run nice and fast on a new inland alignment from Exminster to Newton Abbot. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

No one particularly minded before the Great Smoting ...

Brilliant expression, Rapidash! 

... a new inland alignment from Exminster to Newton Abbot. 

For the record, other inland alignments are also being discussed. 

[ChrisB]

From the Herald Express

Exaggerated claims that 'gaping holes' have appeared in the Dawlish sea wall have been dismissed as 'normal' winter work by Network Rail's orange army.

The coping stones on the top of the seawall were dislodged by waves on Tuesday and fears were raised this week after high tides and heavy rainfall brought floods and waves crashing over the picturesque railway line.

A number of trains were cancelled on Tuesday, November 11.

Campaigners in Plymouth and Cornwall who want to boycott Dawlish and bring the rail line inland through Okehampton jumped on the bandwagon, using this weeks' storm as evidence that ^35million repair after February's storms were a waste of public money.

But Julian Burnell from Network Rail said: "This is the kind of thing we deal with at Dawlish every day. I'm not too worried about this.

"It is pretty much business as usual. We had a thumping storm and that is why we have a team of men that have for many years gone up and down that wall all the time checking for damage and fixing it.

"In this case the coping stones at the top of the wall have been hit enough to loosen them so we closed the walkway to assess the damage.

"But we will fix the stones back in position - this is the kind of thing we deal with at Dawlish every day.

"Everybody is very sensitive after the catastrophe in February - this is nothing to worry about on that scale."

In early February 2014 the track was swept away with part of the sea wall cutting off the service linking Cornwall and much of Devon with the rest of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

The 300-strong Network Rail Orange Army rebuilt the track at a cost of ^35m.

In total, ^15m was spent repairing the area outside Dawlish station where track had been left dangling.

It cost an additional ^20m to repair tracks either side of the town.

Now a 20-foot long stretch of the sea wall has been damaged.

Rob Coleman, of Dawlish, said: "I fear for the future of the route. I have said all along that there is an agenda out there to get it changed - things like today, although exaggerated, does not help the town one bit.

"The business fraternity west of us will not want a train line down again for any length of time. One word. Sad!"

Oliver Colvile MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) said the disruption demonstrated that the South West needs a more resilient railway line:"The idea that we are going to have this railway line that is going to break on a regular basis just isn't good enough.

"I want to make sure that we have a railway line that is a resilient one and also an alternative in case anything happens like last February and today."

[Andy]

"Campaigners in Plymouth and Cornwall who want to boycott Dawlish and bring the rail line inland through Okehampton jumped on the bandwagon, using this weeks' storm as evidence that ^35million repair after February's storms were a waste of public money."

Emotive language, bias, scaremongering.... the Herald Express reveals its links with the Daily Mail.

[bobm]

Dawlish station has now been closed due to waves crashing onto the platforms.

[Umberleigh]

So a station closed, trains delayed and cancelled and it's still only November.

Network Rail seem very bullish about the situation, so I hope for their sakes they don't repeat their "the seawall is good for another 25 years" clanger a few short months prior to the collapse. Strange how that was quickly forgotten...

[chrisr_75]

Going off on a slight tangent, there's a video on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-30040238 showing the spray/waves at a height above the train in the pictures, with a person apparently riding a bike along the footpath! Brave or foolish, you decide!