Dawlish Rail Recovery
A storm damaged coastal railway line connecting southwest England to the rest of the UK was re-opened ahead of schedule thanks to top level service from Hanson UK.
A 70-metre stretch of the line, which runs along the sea wall at Dawlish in Devon, was wrecked in February 2014, when massive waves left the tracks suspended in mid-air. When new storms caused further damage, the rail infrastructure company Network Rail said the route would remain closed until at least the middle of April. However, with the support of contractors and suppliers working around the clock, Network Rail had trains running again two weeks ahead of schedule.
HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Hanson UK supplied around 1,500 cubic metres of concrete, which had to be offloaded on the road above the railway line then pumped 200 metres to the site. Beforehand, the floors and precast works at Somercotes in Derbyshire – part of Hanson’s Design Solutions business – had provided 440 tonnes of heavy-duty bespoke concrete retaining walls to repair the sea wall along which the railway line runs. A total of 96 panels were supplied – each weighing over four tonnes.
