Heritage line could fully reopen in summer

A heritage railway has said it could be the summer until it reopens completely following a landslip that left track hanging in mid-air.

Rain washed away part of an embankment on the Severn Valley Railway and badly damaged a bridge near Eardington in Shropshire.

Although 12 miles (19.3km) of the line are open, head of communications Lesley Carr said the team were keen to use the full 16.5-mile (26.5km) route to Bridgnorth.

She has said discussions are still ongoing with insurers and even if the work is covered, the excess alone is likely to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

So far, about £125,000 has been raised by Severn Valley Railway towards the work.

"If they [insurers] do cover us and we are able to engage a contractor pretty quickly, it's still going to take time to get it up and running," Ms Carr said.

"Realistically, we're talking about it being well into the summer, possibly July, possibly into the summer holidays."

Heavy rain in January saw the collapse of one of the wing walls that held up the bridge over the Mor Brook, a tributary of the River Severn, which caused hundreds of tonnes of rubble and earth to fall.

Trains are currently operating on the unaffected stretch of line between Kidderminster and Hampton Loade.

"It's going to be a big job to get the embankment rebuilt and strengthened, to get the track laid over the top of it," Ms Carr said.

"It's going to take a lot of people, a lot of plant and machinery."

She added engineers would also need to make sure the Mor Brook was protected throughout the work.

Ms Carr said climate change made heavy rainfall more likely, increasing the likelihood of similar events happening again, not just on heritage railways, but the mainline as well.

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