The communities and businesses of south and west Devon and Cornwall are celebrating as their rail link with the rest of the country has been restored in time for the Easter holidays. It follows eight weeks of repairs to the storm-ravaged railway at Dawlish.

Mark Carne, chief executive, Network Rail, said: "Our army of engineers has done an amazing job of putting back together a railway that was ravaged by the elements.

"They have overcome every obstacle thrown at them, winning many battles along the way to restore this critical piece of the network, ahead of schedule, and in time for the Easter holidays.

"The biggest thanks must be reserved for passengers and local communities and businesses who have been hugely supportive and patient over the past two months as we worked flat-out to rebuild this vital rail link.

"Our focus now moves to the medium and long-term looking at what can be done at Dawlish to make the current coastal route more resilient and, by the autumn, understand what the best viable relief route might be."

Network Rail's army of 300 engineers has battled for over two months to overcome every obstacle thrown at it by Mother Nature, and work has included:

• Building a temporary sea wall from 18 welded shipping containers to protect homes and engineers as they worked to repair a 100m breach at Riviera Terrace, Dawlish, following storms on 4 and 14 February.

• Rebuilt and fortified the breach with more than 6,000 tonnes of concrete and 150 tonnes of steel.

• Removed 25,000 tonnes of collapsed cliff at Woodlands Avenue, Teignmouth, following a landslip on 4 March, using high pressure water canon, fire hoses, helicopter-borne water bombs, specialist roped access team and 'spider' excavators.

• Repaired dozens of other sites along a four mile stretch of coastal railway, clearing hundred of tonnes of debris and repairing over 600m of parapet wall.

• Rebuilt half of Dawlish station with a new platform, new canopy and repainting throughout with the finishing touches provided by TV gardener, Toby Buckland, and members of the 'Friends of Dawlish station'.

•Installed more than 13 miles of new cables, designed and installed a new temporary signalling system and replaced over 700m of track and ballast.

(CD)