Reminders of the vulnerability of railway infrastructure in bad weather came yesterday after flooding caused by Storm Angus led to ground giving way beneath a main line between Exeter and Tiverton.

Lines remain closed following the incident near Cowley Bridge on Monday night. The partial collapse of the railway came on the same day that the Peninsula Rail Task Force delivered a report to Government calling for better resilience on lines to the region.

Local MP Ben Bradshaw, who was at the report's launch in Westminster, tweeted: “What was a 10 to 20 year event is now virtually annual. We need real investment for resilience now”.

He later added that MPs in the South West should stop backing High Speed 2 “until our 19th Century lines are resilient”.

The report by the Peninsula Rail Task Force calls for Government to invest £284M in resilience in the South West before 2019 including measures to upgrade the sea wall between Dawlish and Teignmouth, which was breached by flood water in 2014 and led to rail lines being washed away.

In the longer term the report calls for a Dartmoor Northern Route which would provide a second main railway line towards Cornwall.

Last week the Government announced it will provide an additional £10M to help strengthen the resilience of the railway line from Exeter to Newton Abbot via Dawlish.

News of the funding came as Network Rail published a report setting out its proposals for strengthening the route, including tackling the risk of landslips on railway between Exeter and Plymouth and addressing the risk of flooding from the sea near Dawlish.

(Photo: GWR)