Great Western Coffee Shop

Two holes already, makes 50 years for opening a new route (see other link First Great Western Coffee Shop > Journey by Journey > London to the West > No Alternative To Dawlish Route "For Another 50 Years"
) seem a bit of a long time.

Looks like work should start on Okehampton to Bere Alston asap.

Two holes already, makes 50 years for opening a new route (see other link First Great Western Coffee Shop > Journey by Journey > London to the West > No Alternative To Dawlish Route "For Another 50 Years"
) seem a bit of a long time.

Looks like work should start on Okehampton to Bere Alston asap.

[

Beach fears grow

The ^100,000 flood defence project at Dawlish Warren beach is set to be completed by the end of this month ^ but Teignbridge Council is so concerned about the situation that the authority is calling for a further ^2.9 million cash injection from the Environment Agency.

Funding for the current works, which were seen as a necessity after recent storms caused beach erosion and damage to gabion and groyne defences, was secured in January.

And Environment Agency spokesman Paul Gainey told the Gazette that the project is near completion, as is work to remove ^dangerous^ metalwork from an old defence scheme.

damage to...groyne defences

Ouch. That sounds painful.

Legal action threat over Dawlish Warren sea defences

People living and working in and around a seaside town in Devon are considering taking legal action against the Environment Agency (EA).
Dawlish Warren's tourism group says the agency has failed in its duty to maintain the sea defences. It claims if the sea breaks through it will be catastrophic for the Warren and low-lying Exe estuary villages.
The EA denies the claims, saying it has spent ^100,000 shoring up defences at the Warren.
EA spokesman Martin Davies said the agency was aware of the erosion and it had improved and increased its maintenance regime.
"We recently spent more than ^100,000 repairing groynes [wooden walls] and putting in rock armour because of the erosion," he said. "As part of the shoreline management, we have a policy which says we will hold the line at Dawlish Warren and we have an immediate and ongoing commitment to the site."
Dawlish Warren was a very dynamic site and had an important flood defence role, Mr Davies said. "If Dawlish Warren was breached like it was in the 1940s, it's possible wave height would increase in the estuary, putting residents at risk. If we could not hold the line, we would repair a breach, but longer term it might not be sustainable because of rising sea levels and climate change."
But Simon Broom, who has lived at the Warren all his life, told BBC News the defences are being eroded and are not being properly maintained.
"We need to save this - not just for ourselves, not just for the tourism industry, but for everybody who uses the River Exe and everybody who lives up and down the River Exe," he said.
The EA said it has to consider the long-term strategy for the area before spending millions of pounds on sea defence work.
Last week Teignbridge District Council announced it was bidding for money to ship in sand from the Isle of Wight to replenish the tonnes lost during storms.

From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8587164.stm):

No, apparently not.  ;)

Although it is perhaps another example of the various ongoing problems experienced in many locations along the coast, with rising sea levels, sudden extreme bad weather, and so on.

Network Rail study to assess impact of climate change

Thousands of miles of railway track to be examined for ability to withstand storms, flooding and heatwaves

Potential safety threats to thousands of miles of railway from extreme storms, floods and heatwaves as the impact of climate change worsens are being investigated by railway engineers and meteorologists.

A study by Network Rail will look at exposed coastal tracks, embankments and thousands of bridges to see whether they can withstand the increase in extreme weather events that climatologists have predicted over coming decades.

The UK-wide investigation will cost ^750,000 but railway executives believe that implementing its expected recommendations could save the industry ^1bn over the next 30 years by improving safety and preventing emergencies.

The climate change adaptation programme, commissioned by the rail industry safety board (RSSB) follows the intense storm that flooded the south coast line bordering the sea at Dawlish in Devon in 2004, and a series of problems with buckled rails during heatwaves.

At Dawlish, the waves breached a sea wall designed to withstand a severe "one in a hundred years" storm. An official investigation predicted that by 2080 these very severe storms could occur as often as once every 14 years, with the incidence of waves breaking over the sea wall increasing by at least 6,000% by then, raising serious doubts about the line's future.

John Dora, Network Rail's principal engineer for climate change, said the review was designed to identify "what we can do in the long term to make the rail network more robust".

The project will look at 150 miles of vulnerable coastal lines. It will study the risk of flooding and landslides for about 9,000 miles of cuttings and embankments alongside lines, and the ability of 4,500 bridges that span rivers and estuaries to withstand floods.

Network Rail engineers believe as many as 10% of those bridges may need strengthening. Much of the rail network is Victorian, and tracks were laid alongside rivers and coasts, and built through cuttings and on earthworks, because early locomotives needed the lowest gradients possible.

The potential threat was underlined by last November's Cumbrian floods, when six road bridges around Cockermouth collapsed ^ in one case, killing a policeman. Last month, 60 train passengers narrowly escaped serious injury after a rock fall derailed a train near Oban, in Scotland.

More intense and frequent heatwaves increase the threat of lines buckling, leading to cancellations and disrupting maintenance schedules, while high winds can affect overhead power lines. Storms also increase the risks of debris blowing on to tracks or damaging power lines.

Industry executives say climate change and rising fuel prices will present the rail network with a paradox: passenger numbers and services are expected to increase sharply as travellers switch from using cars and short-haul flights. Yet, at the same time, the risks of climate-related disruptions are expected to increase.

Network Rail stresses that the UK's rail system is already robust, and has been "future-proofed" to cope with current weather conditions. After an earlier programme to investigate flood risks, the company is spending ^160m on improving drainage systems and has been fitting higher-standard rails able to cope with warmer temperatures.

The new review will involve designing modelling tools with the Met Office to predict what severe weather events might take place and which lines are most at risk. New flood maps will be produced using laser-based technology.

Dora said Network Rail had been re-examining all its embankments and slopes since 2000, adding that it was difficult to predict how much the extra remedial work might cost until the review was completed. The final report is expected in February or March next year.

"Erosion around the coast is a problem, sea level rise is a problem and increased storminess with waves crashing over the coast can be a problem. With many things like that there are technical, engineering solutions that can be put in place which can mitigate against them," he said.

"The railway is very good at learning from history and very good at prioritising, and with the technology out there just now in research, and looking at innovation, I personally see the railway becoming very smart at targeting its activity at these high-risk areas."

Dredging plan to replace Dawlish Warren's shifting sands

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64130000/jpg/_64130444_64130443.jpg)
Dawlish Warren's beach is estimated to have lost 2m in height in about 10 years

Thousands of tonnes of sand could be moved from one east Devon town to another as part of a plan to shore up flood defences and restore a beach.

Dawlish Warren had lost about 100,000 tonnes of sand over 15 years, with most of it ending up at Pole Sands, near Exmouth, the Environment Agency said.

The agency and Teignbridge Council are considering dredging and bringing sand back along the River Exe to Dawlish. The project could go ahead in the next three to four years, they said.

Tides and currents have been sucking the sand off the beach and moving it eastwards on to the sand bar in the estuary off Exmouth.

Martin Davies, from the agency, said the "dramatic loss of sand" had meant the Dawlish beach had dropped by about 2m (6ft) over the last decade.

As well as the possible damage to tourism, the agency and council said they were concerned it was affecting local flood defences, as the Warren helps protect nearby villages and the main railway line behind the beach.

Neil Baglow, from Teignbridge District Council, said the project - which could cost up to ^7m - would be quite simple. He said: "We'd have a massive dredger that would suck up the sand, and then and come and spray it back on to the beach."

However, concerns have been raised such dredging could leave Exmouth, on the other side of the estuary, vulnerable to flooding.

Exmouth councillor Eileen Wrag said: "Pole Sands protects Exmouth. It could leave Exmouth vulnerable from inundation from the sea."

Mr Davies said this would not be the case: "There are rigorous licensing procedures. Before the project goes ahead, there has to be a guarantee that that won't happen."

Discussions are ongoing into the initial project.

One of my colleagues, now retired, always said that the 'new line' would never happen as NR o some other organization would still have to mantain the sea wall...

Teignmouth, Dawlish x 2 and Starcross seem to generate enough passengers to retain a local stopping service, and also accommodate freight, engineering trains etc that would slow up express services on the new route.

Both that route and the GWR converge at Cowley and to my mind, it is the Exe valley that is the headache.

[...] via Taunton, Barnstaple Town, Barnstaple Junction, Meeth [...]

ITYM Barnstaple Victoria Road, not Barnstaple Town.

Not entirely sure why people have such hang-ups regarding reversals.

AIUI it is the cliff behind that is crumbling all the time and not the sea wall.  I believe that is why NR is sanguine (no, better than that, technically confident) that the sea wall route is capable of maintenance.

Golden Cap near Bridport is the highest cliff in England [...]

Er, no it isn't - it's only 191m at the summit. The cliff face at Great Hangman is 244m.

The seawall has taken a battering over the last few days with strong winds coupled with high tides.  However I am not aware of any major disruption although there are quite a few 143s running round with salt caked windows on one side.

This was the scene near Teignmouth at 11am on Easter Day.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/tgm3103a.jpg)