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.
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!
