The collapse of the railway line at Dawlish last year generated major headlines but it's not the only stretch under threat.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31113368
The coastal railway line from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness is one of the most scenic in Britain. In places it runs at the foot of cliffs immediately above the water. That means it's also one of the most vulnerable lines in the country, always at risk from the destructive power of the sea, or from rock falls, or from both.
The tiny unmanned halt at Flimby, just north of Workington, is a bleak and windswept place in January. It's also one of the most exposed stretches of the line - the track here runs almost at sea level right along the back of the beach, divided from it only by a low earth bank. And on 3 January last year, a few hundred metres south of Flimby station, the line ended up under water.
Ian Joslin, the local area director for Network Rail, called the circumstances that night "a perfect storm". High tides combined with strong onshore winds and washed away the earth bank and 200m of the ballast underneath the track. The rails were left hanging unsupported in the air.
Sound familiar? A month later on the night of 4-5 February the tracks of the main railway line to Plymouth and Penzance were similarly left hanging when a storm destroyed part of the sea wall at Dawlish, on a spectacular stretch where the line weaves along a man-made ledge and through tunnels at the foot of red sandstone cliffs. (+more)
5th February 2015, 01:35
