S&C open again after £23m Eden Brows repair work

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THE Settle to Carlisle line reopened as a through route on March 31, more than a year after a major landslip closed the line at Eden Brows, north of Armathwaite.

The repairs cost £23million and were required after heavy rain caused the River Eden to burst its banks in February 2016, leading to the movement of around 500,000 tonnes of earth beneath a 100-metre section of the trackbed, which subsided by around 1.5 metres.

‘A3’ No. 60103 Flying Scotsman climbs the final few yards to Ais Gill summit on March 31 with the return working of a special to Carlisle that originated at Oxenhope on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. ANDREW DENNISON

Repairs to the 1870s Midland Railway formation included the construction of a substantial concrete deck and retaining walls, 150m long and 1.5m deep, supported on 226
steel-cased piles driven 20m into the ground to prevent a repeat of the landslip at this site.

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The location and nature of the landslip presented Network Rail and its contractors with significant challenges, including the construction of more than a mile of access roads across local farmland, ground investigation to identify other potential problems, a worksite perched on an embankment 70m above a river, and how to design and implement improved drainage and waterproofing.

Read more in the May issue of The RM – on sale now!

 

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