54 days ago the Great Western Line linking Devon and Cornwall to the rest of the country was washed away. It looked like it would take months to get it open again. Yet 54 days later trains are running again. on the rebuilt section of line. This is nothing short of remarkable in a country where it normally takes years to get anything done. Network Rail get a lot of stick, and deservedly so most of the time, but in this case they can be proud of themselves, as can the teams of engineers who have worked around the clock in pretty rough conditions. One of the best train spotting locations in the country is back open for business.
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| 54 days ago the line through Dawlish looked like this |
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| Now the line has been rebuilt and trains are running again. Pic FGW/Twitter |
It looks absolutely fantastic and all credit to them but the arguments for the inland line will rumble on but I think it will come even if it takes some freight away and gives capacity they cant let it roll over
ReplyDeleteWhat has to be remembered is Brunel was no idiot, and had an inland line been a better option he would have built it. The landscape in that area is extremely hilly and the cuttings and tunnels needed would make an inland line extremely expensive. Might be cheaper just to reinforce the rest of the line in the way they have Dawlish. After all the rest of the line survived intact.
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