Mike Gibson, Public Affairs Manager at Southeastern has sent Shrimp the following statement
“As I’m sure you are all aware, the line between Folkestone and Dover has been closed since Christmas Eve due to the collapse of the Dover Sea Wall. I’m pleased to tell you that Network Rail has recently announced that this line will now be re-opened in the Autumn, ahead of its earlier estimates of December.
Network Rail has worked tirelessly to re-open the line since the collapse occurred and have spent in the region of £39.8m to complete the project. The project has included a new 235 metre-long viaduct, supported by 134 concrete columns and Network Rail have used 130,000 tonnes of rock and 5,500 cubic metres of concrete.
Network Rail’s area director, Paul Rutter commented “We understand the impact of this closure has had on passengers, and our engineers have been working round the clock to finish the repairs and get trains running again between Dover and Folkestone.
“We had set aside time for interruptions to the project through bad weather and other issues which can occur on major projects, but so far that contingency has not proved necessary. As a result we are much further ahead than we had expected and have seen the overall cost of the project decrease.
“As soon as we have a firm date for reopening the railway line, we will let passengers know.”
I’ll be in touch again once we have a firm date from NWR and can I thank all of you and those you represent for your patuience while the work has been carried out.”
The image in this post was originally posted on the Folkestone & Dover Commuter Group website at http://www.fdcg.org/