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More than 5,000 tonnes of material slipped beneath a 50-metre section of the railway last Friday (March 8) after persistent heavy rainfall over the winter had weakened the earthwork beneath.
Engineers from Network Rail and Murphy have been working around the clock since, in a bid to clear the site to allow access for materials and equipment needed to shore up the area.
Work to restabilise the embankment - which is approximately 15 metres tall - involves digging out the slipped material to create a new profile for the slope.
Large steps will be cut into the slope before engineers backfill it with over 12,000 tonnes of stone, helping to reduce the gradient and strengthen the embankment.
Network Rail said it hopes work is far enough completed to reopen the railway between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury by Easter.
Network Rail infrastructure director Adam Checkley said: “The scale of our repairs are extremely challenging and will involve using over 12,000 tonnes of material to restabilise the failed railway embankment so we can safely reopen the railway.”
It is one of dozens of landslips close to railways in recent months, following the heavy winter rainfall. This year already work has had to be carried out at locations including Rugby, Baildon near Bradford, Newington in Kent and Mertsham in Surrey.
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