Storm Goretti caused much disruption across the country two weeks ago, with the South West of England bearing the brunt of the storm.

During the heavy rain and strong winds, a landslip occurred near Axminster on the South Western Mainline between Salisbury and Exeter, with another landslip happening near Lymington on the Line from Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier.

Over the course of last weekend (17th and 18th January), Network Rail staff attended both scenes and repaired the landslips, allowing both lines to be reopened yesterday, Monday 19 January.

Both landslips were similar, as the embankments the track sat on slid away close to both lines, leaving the embankments unstable and susceptible to further movement.

Axminster Landslip repairs

With buses replacing trains between Crewkerne and Exeter St David’s, 1,600 tonnes of stone were brought up from Poole by train to allow the repair work to be carried out.

Network Rail engineers installed a retaining wall and used interlocking rocks to stabilise the 20 metre section of the embankment. Since the line reopened, trains are reduced to a temporary 5 mph speed restriction over this section of the line, while monitoring equipment checks the bank for any further movement as the repair work settles into the landscape.

Lymington Landslip repairs

Over in Hampshire, a shorter section of embankment was repaired using a steel wall, which has been dug deep into the ground to prevent the earth under the track from moving. Hourly train services ran on the Lymington Branch yesterday (Monday 19th January) and will continue to do so on Tuesday 20th January. A tamping machine will realign the track on the night of 19th January.

“I would like to thank our passengers for bearing with us while we carried out these emergency works. Safety is our number one priority and, while we tried to avoid closing the railway, the recent wet weather and Storm Goretti left us with no choice but to get our teams to come in and carry out these vital repairs.”

South Western Railway, Infrastructure Director, Tom McNamee, speaking on behalf of Network Rail