Preserving Another of Brunel’s Success Stories The construction of the sea wall at Dawlish was a very brave move by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Also known as the South Devon sea wall, it was designed by Brunel and built by the South Devon Railway Company. The line takes a route from Exeter, following the River Exe to Dawlish Warren, runs beneath the sea cliffs to Teignmouth before following the River Teign to Newton Abbott. It follows tidal waters for about 13 miles of which four are open to the sea. A footpath runs alongside the railway between Dawlish Warren and Dawlish, while another forms a continuation of the sea front promenade at Teignmouth, together forming part of the South West Coast Path. This section was opened by the South Devon Railway Company, running from Exeter St Davids railway station to Teignmouth railway station on 30 May 1846 and extended to Newton Abbot railway station on 31 December 1846. It was a broad gauge railway of 7 feet ¼ inch gauge and intended to be worked as an atmospheric railway, although atmospheric trains only ran from 13 September 1847 until 9 September 1848.
A section of the track hangs over the sea after the collapse of the sea wall (AP)
Damage to this route has been caused on many occasions but probably the most wellknown was that of the night of 4th February 2014 when, amid high winds and extremely rough seas, part of the sea wall at Dawlish was breached, washing away around 130 feet of the wall as well as the ballast under the track on the railway line behind it. The line remained closed until 4th April 2014 after extensive rebuilding work by Network Rail. In 2010 it was stated in Parliament that "in recent years" around £9 million had been invested on keeping the sea wall safe and the cliff faces stable, and that the ongoing
maintenance of the sea walls and the adjoining estuaries was costing Network Rail around £500,000 annually. The Under-Secretary of State for Transport reiterated the importance of the line to the economy of South Devon and Cornwall and confirmed that even if there were to be plans for the building of an alternative inland route in the future, "in our view, it would not be a substitute in any shape or form for the main line along the coast". This is despite the acknowledgement of an inevitable increase in maintenance costs due to rising sea levels.
New Approaches
In 2018, Network Rail put forward a proposal to extend the sea wall further into the English Channel at Teignmouth, with the wall's new edge passing through Sprey Point. The proposal would involve re-aligning the railway, moving the line further from the cliff and creating a space between the railway and the cliff to prevent the railway's being affected by cliff subsidence or collapse. Other elements of the proposal include the improvement of the sea wall between Kennaway Tunnel and Dawlish and the installation of an avalanche shelterstyle structure at Horse Cove. Government funding of £80 million to raise the sea wall south of Dawlish station by 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) was approved in February 2019. Once complete the 1,250 feet section of new sea wall will be higher than the existing wall; it will have a curved edge to send waves back towards the sea; a high-level, wider and safer promenade; pedestrian access to the beach and an accessible station footbridge with lifts. As part of Network Rail’s commitment to spending money locally, the scheme will also deliver an important boost to the south Devon economy with as much as £10 million expected to be spent with local businesses during the second phase of work. This follows the £5 million already spent on local labour, materials and accommodation during the first section of the new sea wall
Work in 2020, 2021 and 2022
The work, which will cost £80 million, was split into two programmes, the first programme of which was outlined in the October issue of Great Western Star and which was completed in the Autumn of 2020. It was officially opened by Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris on the
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