Network Rail completes Severn Estuary resilience programme phase two

The landslide-prone Severn Estuary railway line has been reopened after three weeks of upgrades, bringing the second phase of Network Rail’s £25M resilience programme on the Newport-Gloucester line to an end.

Network Rail and its contractor Amco Giffen, together with its sister company QTS, carried out the work on a 1.6km long stretch of railway close to Purton, north of Berkley, between 31 July and 18 August.

As part of the work trained specialist rope access technicians abseiled down the cliff face to remove 1,000t of loose material. They then installed an “active” mesh system on the cliffs overlooking the exposed railway with 5,000 rock bolts.

This bespoke system will hold the cliff face in position and help to prevent landslides from damaging the railway.

As well as specialist rope access, the QTS team also utilised its fleet of road rail vehicles (RRVs). This included the QTS Mega Reach, the largest RRV lorry loading crane working on UK rail infrastructure, which features a full crane extension of up to 29m.

The Mega Reach was fitted with a specialised drill rig and extended to a reach of 20m, allowing it to drill to the top of the cutting slope from track level. This removed the requirement for hand drilling by the operatives.

The three-week programme brings to completion the second phase of Network Rail’s £25M plan to improve the resilience of the Newport-Gloucester line, which connects South Wales with the West Country, Midlands and north of England.

The first phase of the programme was completed during a seven-week closure of the line that started in July of last year. It saw Network Rail and its contractors remove more than 15,000t of material from the face of a 4.8km stretch of a steep cutting near Lydney.

The stretch of railway in Gloucestershire has suffered several major landslides in the last two years.

It was hit by three landslides in January 2023 alone, following prolonged heavy rainfall. Due to one of these, which moved 100t of material, the line was forced to close early in the year. At the time, Network Rail was alerted to the movement of earth by its slope monitoring system.

The completion of the second phase of the upgrade programme means that a temporary speed restriction of 20mph that was imposed on the line following the landslides can now be removed.

Network Rail Wales and Borders route director Nick Millington said: “We are dedicated to improving resilience across the Wales and Borders route, and we’re already seeing the benefit this multi-million-pound investment is having on the Severn Estuary line. The new mesh installed on a different section of the cliff, last summer, has had zero landslips that have impacted the railway.

“With phase two now complete, the whole line is better protected against severe weather events. We will be coming back to carry out more resilience work to further future proof this line against the challenging effects of climate change.”

Network Rail and its contractors will remain on site on the Severn Estuary to install more bolts and mesh until March 2024, with no disruption to rail services.

Designs and plans for the next stage of this resilience project are currently being finalised.

Network Rail is expected to return next year to upgrade the “passive” system that it installed during phase one - that catches debris rather than holds it in place - with an "active" system.

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