£50 million has been secured to fix and upgrade West Cumbria’s Bransty Tunnel – but its reopening date remains out of sight.
Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister said government funding has been secured for repairs in the rail tunnel, between Whitehaven and Corkickle, to allow it to eventually reopen.
He added that it would keep the tunnel fully operational for 60 years, following years of patch jobs and repeated closures.
But in order for Network Rail to get permits to start repairing the tunnel, a solution must be found to clear the orange water from Whitehaven Harbour, as the contaminated water in Bransty Tunnel must be managed responsibly by law.
The tunnel is directly connected to the harbour, as the orange water is flowing over the tracks in the tunnel and entering the harbour via a culvert.
While some options to fix the orange water have been put forward, there is currently no timeline for a solution.
Plans were initially put forward to divert the orange water out to sea at North Shore via a pipe – which would have allowed Network Rail to meet the requirements for managing the water in the tunnel responsibly.
But early modelling of the plan has now revealed that the pipe may fail to fully address the issue and result in the orange water washing back into the harbour.
Mr MacAlister’s office confirmed that funding was secured for the original pipe plan – but declined to confirm how much was secured, when it was secured and from where.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “We are committed to getting passengers and freight back on the move through Bransty Tunnel and we thank people for their continued patience while we find a resolution.
“While we have a fully funded plan ready to carry out the tunnel and track repairs, our work with partner organisations on the long-term solution to solve the orange water discharge through the tunnel into the harbour is ongoing.
“These are very complex issues, but we are determined to create reliable solutions for the long-term benefit of Whitehaven and wider communities along the Cumbrian Coast Line.”
The rail tunnel has been shut since July 25 last year, when Network Rail engineers started scheduled survey work inside the structure.
They initially discovered that the floor needed strengthening before any work could start but later found historic mine workings which ‘complicated’ the issue.
The water is orange as it is contaminated with iron ochre, a byproduct of historic mine workings.
Other solutions to address the orange water are now being explored including the lengthening of the proposed pipe that would take the water out further to the low tide point.
No other solutions have yet been shared by the taskforce, but other options are being considered.
Mr MacAlister, who is chair of the harbour taskforce tackling the orange water issue, said: “The diversionary pipe would have been a way for them (Network Rail) to meet that requirement.
“They have done some modelling of the impact of diverting that water out to sea and the modelling hasn’t come back as we wanted it to.
“It has shown that there might be a risk that actually the orange water washes back around to the harbour and doesn’t disperse as quickly as we wanted to.
“It’s been one of the toughest issues to fix if I’m being honest. The amount of time that has been spent trying to pull agencies together has been enormous.
“It’s been hugely frustrating, not just for me, but also for a lot of the organisations involved because it is so complicated.”
All involved organisations must now return to the drawing board to find a way of clearing the orange water from the harbour.
He said: “The last thing we want to do is put all of this investment into a solution which actually doesn’t solve the root cause of the problem, which is orange water here in the harbour.
“This is something I have spent a huge amount of time and energy on. I’ve been pulling agencies and occasionally banging heads together so we get some action.
“I’ll continue to do that and I have got meetings pretty much every week with those partners to push this forward.
“I am going to keep doing my best to get this sorted as part of the wider efforts to get Whitehaven back and restore our beautiful town to the position it needs to be in.”
The orange water was found entering the harbour through a culvert in Queen’s Dock which is connected to the Bransty rail tunnel drainage system.
Tests eventually found floodwater from the rail tunnel contaminated with iron ochre – a byproduct of historic mine workings – as the cause of the harbour turning orange during periods of heavy rain.
The source of the orange water is likely one out of hundreds of historic mines in the area that cannot be controlled or found.
The harbour taskforce searching for a solution to clear the orange water is made up of Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners, Whitehaven Marina Ltd, the Environment Agency, Network Rail, the Mining Remediation Authority, Cumberland Council and Mr MacAlister.
