Dawlish sea wall: £30m work to secure railway 'for 100 years'

Work is beginning on a £30m scheme to protect a coastal railway line that washed into the sea five years ago.

A new 25ft (7.5m) high sea wall is being built at Dawlish, Devon after the line collapsed during storms on 4 February 2014.

The track which links Devon and Cornwall with the rest of the country was left dangling in the air after waves gouged out holes in the defences.

Network Rail aims to "secure the future of the line for the next 100 years".

Here is all you need to know about the Dawlish sea wall improvement scheme, from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Phase one starts on 1 June with site preparation work.

Work on the concrete foundations starts on Monday and will last until 14 July when there will be a break until 9 September to avoid disruption during the summer.

The scheduled finish date is 23 January 2020.

To raise the height of the sea wall from 5m (16ft) to 7.5m.

The walkway will also be raised and widened to 4m (13ft) from 3.1m (10ft), with a safety barrier.

To protect the line from closure and to reduce flooding of the track by 90%.

Network Rail points to forecasts of a sea level rise of 0.8m (3ft) in the next 100 years.

Western route managing director Mark Langman, said: "world leading engineers" had designed the plans to "ensure the railway line is more resilient to extreme weather and rising sea levels for generations to come".

The main construction of the sea wall will begin. Pre-cast concrete panels will be installed, track drainage put in and existing promenade sections will be demolished with pre-cast concrete units installed.

Surfacing work will take place on the promenade with lighting and seating.

New concrete panels will clad the existing wall and this will be filled in with concrete.

Ramps will connect the new raised promenade to the existing walkway levels at Colonnade underbridge and Boat Cove.

Round the clock. Typically work will start five hours before and finish five hours after low tide.

Work will be carried out six days a week, but these days will be selected to maximise spring tide working.

For the duration of the work, there will be no car parking spaces available in Marine Parade, with the parking bays suspended. This will enable them to be used by construction staff to enable the delivery of vital materials.

The parking suspension on Marine Parade will begin on 3 June.

Where possible, "as much access to the beach in front of Marine Parade will be retained for public use" says Network Rail.

During phase one, public access to Boat Cove will be maintained via the footbridge over the railway line, with a pedestrian walkway installed from the footbridge through Boat Cove to Coryton Cove.