Engineering work on Dawlish's new sea wall is making steady progress, as well as at the railway station and on the rockfall shelter extension north of Parson's Tunnel.

This week's developments included the reopening of the Coastguard's footbridge, enabling pedestrian access to Dawlish Warren.

The second section of the new sea wall

Dawlish's new sea wall build is split into two sections. The first runs from Boat Cove along Marine Parade to the railway station and was completed in July 2020. The second section goes from the Colonnade breakwater (on Dawlish Town Beach) to the Coastguard breakwater, and work began in November 2020.

Piling to install the foundations for the part of the wall that will go around Dawlish Railway Station is due to finish this week, according to Network Rail.

A spokesperson said: "We've also been working on the foundations to create the boundary wall for the pedestrian area in front of the underpass.

"Thank you to all our neighbours for your patience."

The area directly behind the station to the sea wall panels has been backfilled with concrete. Now, wave returns will be installed atop the wall.

The mouth of Dawlish Water (also known as the Brook) has been diverted into a temporary channel for more foundation work to be carried out.

Further down the second section, the Coastguard's footbridge has now reopened. You can now walk down from Exeter Road, over the bridge, and all the way along the seafront to Dawlish Warren.

Pieces of wave returns from the old sea wall have also been installed as benches near the footbridge.

The railway station

There were replacement buses instead of trains every weekend last month so that the station platforms could be resurfaced and reconstructed.

The landward platform nearest the town was resurfaced and realigned, while the seaward platform had its old timber frame taken out and replaced with concrete. The gap between the platforms and trains was also reduced for passengers.

Work on the platforms is not yet finished, but no further travel cancellations are planned.

An accessible footbridge over the platforms, complete with lifts, is expected by 2023.

The rockfall shelter at Parson's Tunnel

Work is also being carried out further down the railway north of Parson's Tunnel to extend a rockfall shelter by 209 metres to protect trains from falling debris.

Foundations are being put in, with specialist road-rail vehicles helping install pilings.

The £37.4m extension will reportedly be open on one side for passengers to see out of the window.

Construction was forecast to take eight weeks to complete, and began on 24 January.

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