Four washouts along North Wales branch line leads to two-week closure

A North Wales branch line is set to reopen on January 13 after suffering severe weather damage on New Year’s Eve, including dour washouts.

Ballast at four sections along a 2.5-mile stretch of the Conwy Valley Line between North Llanrwst and Tal-y-Cafn stations was washed away, with numerous other smaller sites also requiring new ballast. More than 50 sleepers were also washed out.

The line, which runs between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog, also suffered damage to multiple level crossings and damage to two bridges south of Llanrwst station.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “Network Rail engineers are working around the clock to safely reopen the line as soon as possible, with Monday 13 January our revised target for services to resume. We apologise for the disruption and thank customers for their patience and understanding while we work to get the line open again.”

The Conwy Valley line has a history of weather damage with much of it built on a floodplain. Work in recent years has included installing rock armour.

Meanwhile a stretch of the main line between Shrewsbury and Wrexham was closed for more than three days after a landslip at Gobowen late on Saturday January 4.

More than 100 tonnes of debris and spoil fell in a landslip thought to have been caused by groundwater.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “The underlying geology can be considered an aquifer, and we’ve had a particularly wet summer. The prolonged wet weather appears to have led to the slope degrading.”

The slope was last inspected up to two years ago, when there was no movement or anything else that indicated concern.

“The work itself was relatively simple once we had established the problem: using a machine to scoop up the debris and take it away,” the NR spokesman added.

“As a temporary measure, we have put in barriers to prevent any further material from reaching he track. We’re going to install cameras to monitor the slope while we establish a controlled response to fixing the problem long-term. We worked with AmcoGiffen.

“The access point was four miles away from the slip itself. There was a closer access point we could have used but it would have meant disrupting services into Shrewsbury station. We made a conscious decision to use an access point further away to minimise disruption to other lines.”

The route was reopened on Wednesday January 8.