Iconic railway will be '˜safe for generations to come' after £23m repair

But after a landslip caused 500,000 tonnes of earth to move - more than ten times the weight of a fully loaded QE2 ocean liner - causing damage to the tracks, the scenic 72-mile Settle-Carlisle railway line was been partly closed.

Now a £23m repair project will see hundreds of concrete-filled steel tubes set into the hillside at Eden Brows to form a corridor on which a 100-metre long concrete slab will be placed, to give the railway a solid base - and the line will be fully re-opened by next March, more than a year after the closure.

Trains have continued to run on part of the route from Leeds to Appleby since the earth gave way after weeks of downpours in February, but replacement buses were initially in place for the rest of the journey. Northern services last month began travelling as far as Armathwaite, with buses operating the rest of the way.

The re-opening will no doubt be a boost to tourism in the region, as the scenic line passes some of North Yorkshire’s finest landscapes, and offers picturesque views of the Dales and the Three Peaks to passengers. It also travels over the famous Ribblehead Viaduct.

The engineering solution was chosen by Network Rail from six possible options, which included building a bridge, digging out the entire gorge embankment and filling it with solid material, and significantly moving the course of the railway.

In addition to the solid structure being built beneath the railway, an extensive earthworks project, costing an estimated £5m, is planned to protect the foot of the bank down to the river. Drainage systems and ‘rock armour’, which helps prevent erosion, followed by tree replanting, will stabilise the land.

Martin Frobisher, managing director for Network Rail’s London North Western route, said the structure will safeguard the section of railway “for generations to come”.

“If the land gives way again, the railway will not,” he said. “This is a complex repair job many months in the planning. We are now focused on getting this iconic and much-loved line fully reopened right the way to Carlisle as soon as possible. We recognise the impact the closure of the line between Appleby and Carlisle has had on local communities, especially during the summer tourist season.”

Today Network Rail staff will team up with members of the Friends of Settle Carlisle Line (FoSCL) to meet communities affected by the closure.

Douglas Hodgins, chairman of FoSCL, said: “We have been working closely with Network Rail and Northern over the past months to get the best of outcomes to what could have been a catastrophic event for the line’s present and future. The enormity of the repair task cannot be overstated.

“This particular bit of the Eden gorge slipped in the 1870s when the line was being built. It took the then Midland Railway two years to stabilise the ground with Victorian resources and know-how. We are immensely grateful to Network Rail for devising and commissioning this 21st century solution.”

The repair programme will be undertaken in nine phases, from building access ramps to bring the piling rigs on to the site, to laying the tunnel-like structures. In December, three to four lorry-loads per day of concrete are set to arrive onsite.

Network Rail said “great care” would be taken to ensure ecology is protected, including badger setts and spawning salmon.