NETWORK Rail’s proposals for the next phase of the work along the railway line from Dawlish to Teignmouth have been welcomed by county councillors.

The Devon councillors representing Teignmouth and Dawlish also praised campaigners for their efforts to prevent the loss of part of the beach which had previously been suggested as part of the overall plans to future-proof the coastal rail route.

Phase 5 of Network Rail’s South West Resilience programme, which covers the 1.8km section of the line running along the coast from Parson’s Tunnel to Teignmouth, has now been unveiled.

Cllr Martin Wrigley said: ‘The new design is very good, it’s credit to the campaigning of the local community and ‘Save Holcombe and Teignmouth Beach Group’.

‘I’m very pleased that Brunel’s wall will be preserved, and that Network Rail will undertake regular monitoring of the cliff.’

The exposed mainline railway between Dawlish and Teignmouth is the only rail link into the south west but is vulnerable to storms and erosion.

Following the devastating storms of 2014, which saw the railway damaged beyond use for eight weeks, Network Rail started work on plans to prevent this from happening again by launching the South-West Rail Resilience Programme.

Proposals for this next stretch had caused uproar when it was considered moving the line away from the cliffs which would have meant losing part of the beach.

Since going back to the drawing board, engineers are working on new plans which were explained at several public information sessions.

They are now aiming to provide a ‘targeted approach’ which will assess the risks for 14 separate sections of cliff will be assessed and a bespoke solution will be developed for each.

Cllr David Cox said: ‘I hope the new planned improvements to the railway, will create strong resilient transport links to the area, with minimum changes to the iconic railway by the sea.’

Teignmouth Town Councillor, Andrew Henderson, said: ‘I was very impressed by Network Rail’s presentations, I hope they will come to the town council, so we can see the plans and see hope we can support them.’

The revised ideas have been developed since a public outcry over the potential loss of part of Holcombe beach through moving the track away from the cliff led to engineers looking at different options.

The 1.8km stretch of the line is bordered by steep cliffs on one side and the sea on the other, is at risk of cliff falls, landslips and damage caused by extreme weather which is predicted to increase with climate change.

Following a three-month consultation held in early 2020, Network Rail has been reviewing its proposals to tackle all known and future risks.

‘These proposals centred on moving the tracks away from the cliffs while building new sea defences to protect the line from the waves.

Network Rail says its experts are working to find a solution which protects the railway without impacting the beaches between Holcombe and Teignmouth.

This includes examining what could be done without moving the track.

Over the past two years, extensive analysis of existing data and trials of ground investigation techniques have taken place to further assess the risk from the cliffs to the railway, with more site investigations to come.