'Significant progress' made on railway repairs

The Severn Valley Railway is currently only running services between Kidderminster and Hampton Loade

Bosses at a heritage railway line say "significant progress" has been made in repairing an embankment that collapsed almost five months ago.

The land between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade, on the Severn Valley Railway, gave way at the Mor Brook bridge on 30 January.

Since then, trains have been restricted to running between Kidderminster and Hampton Loade.

The heritage line said more than 2,500 tonnes of material had been excavated from the site and a temporary culvert had been installed to allow full access for machinery.

The next phase of the operation will involve the installation of concrete blocks to support the embankment and the railway said it hoped to announce a reopening date for the full line within the next week.

Engineering contractors CML moved on to the site at the start of the month and the railway said the culverting work would "allow further excavation to take place around the collapsed wing wall of the bridge".

The wing wall of the bridge collapsed, causing soil to give way around the track

Once that is complete, more than 100 concrete blocks, each weighing 2.5 tonnes would be moved into place.

After that the contractors plan to cover it with alternate layers of matting and imported aggregate, to create a stronger embankment.

Finally, concrete blocks will be placed on the top of the bridge to form a base for the railway track.

Antony Bartlam, the railway's project manager, said: "Progress is impressive, helped by the recent good weather."

Managing Director Jonathan Dunster said "something rather special" was being planned to mark the reopening of the full line.