Last month, Teignbridge District Council approved Network Rail’s plans for a new sea wall at Dawlish (on the south coast of Devon) to provide increased protection from extreme weather and rising sea levels “for generations to come”.

Mark Langman, Network Rail’s managing director for the Western Route, said: “We know the local community in Dawlish feel strongly about the future of the sea wall and the resilience of the railway in their town.

“We’d like to thank them for their input and engagement with us so far. Our plan for the new sea wall will minimise its impact on the Dawlish sea front, while providing the appropriate level of protection from extreme weather for the railway and the town.

“The new sea wall will protect this vital rail artery to the South West for the next 100 years. We will commence
work on site at the end of May.

“However, work will stop during the peak summer season, so it does not affect the main tourism season.”

Meanwhile, Network Rail engineers worked round-the-clock over the Easter bank holiday to deliver more than £18 million of improvements across Scotland’s railway.

Over 1,500 engineers worked more than 20,000hr on a variety of projects.

For example, at Shawfield in Glasgow, signalling and track upgrades worth £4 million on the West Coast Main Line saw engineers renew sets of points.

Further south on the West Coast Main Line, which links Glasgow Central to London Euston, engineers renewed tracks and a level crossing; they also improved the under-line drainage between Beattock and Abington in South Lanarkshire.

The Easter programme of work was just the start of Network Rail’s five-year multi-billion-pound investment to improve passenger journeys and allow more trains to use the network.

Liam Sumpter, chief operating officer for Network Rail Scotland, said: “This investment programme is vital for the future of Scotland’s railway.

“It will help to improve reliability on the West Coast Main Line — one of Europe’s busiest rail routes.”