Dawlish Sea Wall Under Threat

The sea wall at Dawlish is one of the classic stretches of main line in Britain. Generations of enthusiasts have made the pilgrimage to this scenic location, and taken probably millions of photographs over the years.

But now the famous location living on borrowed time, thanks to global warming.

Most travellers get their first glimpse of the sea as trains thunder over the line's most dramatic stretch at Dawlish, where the line runs below sandstone cliffs only a few feet from the English Channel. At other times of the year, the trains get soaked by waves and trains arrive in Exeter and Teignmouth with seaweed still clinging to the carriages.

Such glories may not last much longer, however - for climatologists, transport experts and politicians have warned that rising sea levels and increasingly ferocious sea surges, triggered by global warming, now threaten the existence of the line along some of south Devon's most beautiful coastline.

'It is not going to be possible to run trains over that stretch for much longer,' said the Conservative MP for Totnes, Anthony Steen. 'Climate change is going to see to that. We need Network Rail and the Department of Transport to act now. At this rate Devon and Cornwall will lose its only rail link with the rest of England.'

There have been proposals for many years to replace this scenic stretch with a completely new inland route, probably mostly in tunnel. While it will be sad to see the end of the sea wall, keeping a rail link to Plymouth and Cornwall must ultimately come first. Let's hope it actually gets built before it becomes impossible to keep the sea wall stretch open to traffic.