NEWS

In early 2024 a landslide occurred on the cliffs above the Exeter to Plymouth Line and South West Coastal Path to the northeast of Teignmouth.  As Central Alliance hold Network Rail Monitoring Frameworks for the Wales and Western Region we dispatched a team to the site within 2 days to install an emergency cliff monitoring system, made up of tilt sensors on both the catch fence and above the landslip, as well as cameras at each location.

Onsite, Senceive FlatMesh Nano Triaxial Tilt Sensor nodes were installed. These devices have the advantage of having a resolution of 0.0018mm/m, meaning even the most smallest of ground movements can be picked up, as well as having 12-15year battery life meaning there is very little risk of losing power to the nodes. The Tilt Sensor nodes are joined by the Flatmesh 4G gateway and Camera, both of which are powered by solar panels – which reduces the need for site visit to replace batteries – keeping staff safe and reducing any damage to the environment caused by repeat visits. 

The emergency cliff monitoring systems tilt sensors monitor any ground movements in their immediate vicinity, with the cameras allowing for a visual confirmation, and an alert if any large scale ground movements move towards the rail track. 

Due to this being a Network Rail project, and part of the site being track side, the highest of safety standards have to be met, including a comprehensive risk assessment, and access to the land adjacent to the rail track requiring specifically qualified colleagues to carry out the installation. 

 Due to the restricted public access to the top of the cliffs, the equipment could be placed in the best locations, without any fear of being interfered with by members of the public – as long as the gateway was placed far enough away from the landslide, so as it would not be affected by any future slips.