The WaveWalker machine currently building the foundations for section two of Dawlish's new sea wall has been attracting a lot of interest this week.

The enormous structure, that moves sideways like a crab, is inserting cylindrical steel piles into the ground on the sea-facing side, to make sure the new wall will be super-strong and able to withstand major storms.

Read more about the WaveWalker here: Dawlish Nub News report on WaveWalker

But this is just one part of an £80 million project which follows years of studies, designs and joint working between world-leading marine, coastal and railway engineering experts.

The bigger picture

The first section of new sea wall was completed earlier this year and the current section – from Dawlish station to the Coastguard breakwater - will take around two years to build.

Work on the final part, between the station and the Colonnade breakwater, which will link up the new wall at Marine Parade, will start to be built shortly afterwards.

So, what was it like planning and designing a project of this scale, which had to protect a crucial stretch of railway, but also preserve the character of a beautiful seaside town with an economy largely reliant on visitors attracted by its natural assets?

Dawlish Nub News talked to Simon Masters, communications manager for the South West Rail Resilience programme – who agreed that they'd had take a lot of factors into account.