The South Devon Railway sea wall is situated on the south coast of Devon in England. A footpath runs alongside the railway between Dawlish Warren and Dawlish, then another footpath forms a continuation to the sea front promenade at Teignmouth. Both of these form part of the South West Coast Path.
The South Devon Railway was built to the designs of Isambard Kingdom Brunel; it takes a route from Exeter which follows the River Exe to Dawlish Warren, runs beneath the sea cliffs to Teignmouth and then follows the River Teign to Newton Abbot. It follows tidal waters for about , of which are open sea.
Background The section of railway was opened by the South Devon Railway Company, running from Exeter St Davids railway station to Teignmouth railway station on 30 May 1846 and extended to Newton Abbot railway station on 31 December 1846. It was a broad gauge railway of gauge and intended to be worked as an atmospheric railway, although atmospheric trains only ran from 13 September 1847 until 9 September 1848.
The South Devon Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 February 1876 and the gauge converted to the standard 4 feet 8½ inches after 20 May 1892. A station was opened to serve Dawlish Warren in 1905, all the other stations on the sea wall having opened with the line in 1846.
The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948. The line is now owned by Network Rail and the stations and majority of trains operated by the modern-day Great Western Railway.
Storm damage
The sea wall has always been prone to damage during stormy weather as it runs alongside the open sea at the base of cliffs for . The first time this occurred was just a few months after the line opened. In September 1846 repairs were necessary to the wall north of Parson's Tunnel which had been built with loose rock instead of the masonry wall seen elsewhere, and then on 4 October storms broke through the wall in several places and services had to terminate at Dawlish. That night the high tide flooded the line where it ran alongside the River Exe and more breaches occurred as the storm continued into Monday. South of Parson's Tunnel the sand was scoured from the beach and this caused another cavity under the wall. Repairs started on 7 October, when the storm had died down. Trains could run through to Teignmouth again after just 50 hours and the loose rock was replaced by a permanent wall the following winter.
On the morning of 24 December 1852 there was a rock fall from the cliff at Breeches Rock, the same place that the wall had been damaged in 1846. A train was stopped before it hit the rocks and the passengers had to walk past the blockage to join trains on the other side, but the line was reopened after a few hours. Later that week a larger fall happened which blocked the line early on 29 December, this time knocking some of the wall into the sea. Passengers were transferred between Dawlish and Teignmouth by road for two days, after which trains could approach the blockage so passengers could again walk past to join trains on the other side. The line reopened for through trains after a total of four days.
On Monday 12 February 1855 large portions of the sea wall were washed away. Despite repair work starting promptly four days later more of the sea wall and a long section of line were also washed away. Passengers were obliged to leave their trains and carry their luggage some distance to join another. A temporary viaduct was constructed by the resident engineer, Mr. Margery, and was in operation within a couple of weeks which allowed the through operation of coaches, pulled by hand and rope, although some nervous passengers still alighted and walked.
The night of 25 October 1859 saw the largest storm to hit Devon in 35 years. The Exe river wall was damaged at Turf and Powderham. On the coastal section the dividing wall between the footway and railway was knocked down near Langstone, while the line was flooded where it was at beach level between Dawlish and Kennaway tunnel. At Teignmouth the top of the wall was damaged and the sea flooded through Eastcliff tunnel into the station. One train was stuck at Dawlish but the line reopened at 11 a.m. on 27 October when a line was reinstated at Turf.
The sea undermined the wall north of Dawlish on 31 January 1869 leading to the collapse of of wall. A train was stopped at Dawlish where passengers were taken by road to Dawlish Warren to join a special train, even though there was no station at the Warren at this time. After this passengers were taken to Starcross until a temporary line across the breach was opened for traffic on 4 February. This was the section south of Rockstone where no footway was provided to keep good views from the houses behind the railway. After the breach it was rebuilt at the higher level that had been used from Rockstone to Langstone from the opening of the line.
The winter of 1872-1873 saw a series of breaches. On Christmas Day 1872 around of wall was washed away by heavy waves near Rockstone. Engineers were laying a second track here so this was brought into use later the same day although passengers had to change trains between the two lines until the original line could be restored. Only a few days later, on 30 December, a larger breach undermined the tracks at the same place causing trains to stop either side of the gap until 1 January 1873. Then early on the morning of 1 January another of sea wall was breached between and above the breach of Christmas Day. This breach washed out of the sandstone rock on which the wall was originally built, the wall being completely undermined in places with cavities up to . Despite this, trains continued to run on the new single track. Most of the repairs were destroyed in a gale during the night of 1-2 February and also a section to the north. The three breaches stretched over and it was feared that Rockstone footbridge might collapse. Road transport was instigated between Dawlish and Starcross including extra horses and wagonettes brought up from Plymouth by special train. The carriages of the overnight mail train to London was pushed across on 3 February and services then started to return to normal.
After the storms of 1873 there was no significant damage for fifty years. Some preventative work was started in 1918 to reduce the likelihood of cliff falls near Langstone and Sprey Point. While this was taking place a cliff fall blocked the line near Sprey Point on 12 March 1923. One track was reopened on the 14th and the second on the 22nd.
Single line working was needed on 24 December 1930 when the wall was undermined at Riviera terrace north of the Coastguard footbridge. Late on 4 January 1931 another storm caused a section here to be undermined and the material supporting the track was sucked out. The hole was filled by granite blocks and quick-setting cement. Single-line working was possible from midday on 8 January. Later that year of wall foundations were strengthened and some of the groynes that prevent the beach being eroded were lengthened. There was a breach of the river wall at Powderham on 10 February 1936 which closed the line until 12 February.
On Christmas Eve 1929 a large portion of the wall near the Coastguard Station cracked and gave way, causing partial subsidence of the down line. Traffic was able to continue on the up line. Whilst repairs proceeded quickly, on 4 January 1930 another breach occurred when the foundations of the track were washed away leaving a chasm deep and extending for which resulted in the complete closure of the line. Repairs were undertaken under the supervision of Mr. H.E. Damen, a divisional engineer, and the line re-opened within three days.
On 17 November 1965 stormy seas created a gap in the sea wall between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren. British Rail managed to keep services running with trains restricted to but repairs took three weeks.
The first significant closure in fifty years occurred in 1986 between Smuggler's Lane bridge and Sprey point. The sea wall was undermined early on 26 February and material was washed out from beneath the down line, although the wall did not collapse. The sea kept removing stones until the hole was long. Two more holes opened over the next few days, one either side of the original. Both tracks were closed to regular traffic but engineering trains were able to use the line closest to the cliffs to bring in material to fill the hole. On 1 March freight trains were allowed to use the single track between engineering operations. Providing buses for passengers was difficult over the weekend of 1-2 March as resignalling work was taking place north of Exeter so most spare buses were already committed to cover services to . Freight and long-distance passenger traffic along the sea wall resumed on the single line on 3 March but local services continued to be replaced by buses until the second line was reopened on 11 March.
The first blockage of the 21st century occurred in September 2006. A storm hit during the afternoon of the 21st and trains were operated in both directions on the up line which kept them further away from the waves that were breaking over the wall. The following day there was a wash out north of Dawlish station which caused the down line to be closed, but normal working resumed on 23 September.
On the night of 4 February 2014, amid high winds and extremely rough seas, part of the sea wall at Dawlish was breached, washing away around of the wall and the ballast under the railway immediately behind. It was initially hoped that the line would only be closed for a short time but further storms prevented work to repair the railway; the repair and resumption of train service eventually took two months. On the morning of 5 February the hole and exposed railway track were reassessed. Powerful waves caused further damage to the track, sea wall, and Dawlish station on 6 February. The Department for Transport said the "most pressing issue" was to get the line up and running as soon as possible, "but equally it is clear it is important we look at the long term as well". Repairs were finally completed at the beginning of April 2014, with the first train (the 05:34 Exeter St Davids to Paignton) running on schedule on the morning of Friday 4 April.
Network Rail issued a black alert on the 23 January 2026, suspending rail services between Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbot due to predicted waves of and winds with a risk of the wall being breached. The subsequent storm caused sea water to wash onto the tracks at Dawlish, and knocked over a section of the wall between the footpath and the railway. Network Rail stated "There doesn't appear to be any damage to the structure of the railway track but the sea has deposited a large amount of chunky debris onto the track." Great Western Railway added that the storm had caused "significant debris" to be left on of track requiring removal. A limited rail service was restored on the morning of the 25 January 2026.
+ Blockages Date Days Reason Location 1846 3 Damaged wall Breeches Rock 1852 7 Rock fall Breeches Rock 1853 4 Rock fall Kennaway Tunnel 1855 12 Damaged wall Smuggler's Lane 1859 3 Damaged wall Teignmouth 1869 5 Damaged wall Dawlish (San Remo) 1872 1Damaged wallLangstone 3 1873 3 1 1923 3 Rock fall Sprey point 1930 5 Damaged wall Dawlish (Riviera Terrace) 1936 12 Damaged wall Powderham 1986 6 Damaged wall Sprey point 2006 1 Damaged wall Dawlish (Rockstone) 2014 59 Damaged wall Dawlish (Riviera Terrace) Rock fall Holcombe20262Damaged wallDawlish (Sea Lawn Terrace)
Diversionary routes