IMPRESSIVE drone footage has been taken by Network Rail which shows the extent of the work carried out along Dawlish sea front.

The images, released to mark the nine year anniversary of the storm which ripped the line at Dawlish apart, clearly show how far the project has come.

Contractors have been working around the clock to make the line more resilient, including building a new, taller sea wall and a wider, safer public promenade.

The two phase project is costing an estimated £80 million.

The first phase at Marine Parade was completed in July 2020 and work began on the second phase between the Colonnade and Coastguard breakwaters in November that year.

The installation of 164 wall panels, 203 pre-cast blocks and 189 recurve units which return the waves back out to sea, was completed in July last year.

The team is now in the final stage of linking the two phases together and completing the new stilling basin where Dawlish Water runs under the Colonnade and into the sea.

This innovative design of the sea wall, coupled with the increased height, will help prevent delays and disruption to passengers by minimising the likelihood of the tracks flooding and allowing the line to reopen more quickly after major storms.

Work has also started on the lift shafts for the new accessible footbridge for Dawlish station, which is due for completion in summer 2023. 

The South West Rail Resilience Programme was established to identify and implement the best options to improve rail resilience between Dawlish and Teignmouth, helping to avoid a repetition of the events of 2014.

The ferocious storm that ripped the sea wall and ground from beneath the railway line in Dawlish, cutting off the entire south west rail links for eight weeks while emergency repairs were carried out around the clock to reinstate the line, costing £35million.