ALL four tracks of the South Western Main Line reopened on February 24 following round-the-clock working to repair a serious landslip caused by heavy rain.
The landslip left the down slow track suspended in mid-air and the down fast line partially eroded, seriously affecting South West Railway services to Southampton, Weymouth and Exeter.
To provide some southbound capacity during repairs, engineers connected the down fast to the up fast over a stable section of the embankment, thereby increasing the number of trains that could run between Winchfield and Hook.
A further complication was that the bank slip was in a remote location, meaning that engineers needed to build a 580 metre access road across fields to get materials and machinery to the site. A 60 metre steel wall made up of 100 12 metre interlocking piles was driven into the ground to stabilise the embankment, before infilling.