Work to make Norfolk and Suffolk rail lines more resistant to climate change must be accelerated in the wake of flood damage which stopped train services for a week, an MP told Parliament.
Services between Norwich and Lowestoft resumed on Saturday (February 5) after last weekend's storms caused damage to tracks near Haddiscoe.
High tides and winds caused part of the original embankment and the ballast - the stones that support the tracks - to be washed away at Haddiscoe on the Wherry Line.
Services were suspended, with replacement buses while Network Rail engineers spent the week rebuilding the tracks after the train was removed safely.
Up to 500 tonnes of rock and ballast were used to reinstate the embankment under the track bed to replace the original material which was washed away.
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Peter Aldous, Conservative MP for Waveney, raised the issue - and the longer-term prospects for improvements - in the House of Commons on Thursday (February 3).
He said: "Good services on that Wherry Line and the east Suffolk line are vital if meaningful levelling up is to be delivered to the Waveney area.
"Can ministers confirm that the government are committed to improvements on these two lines and that their ambitions extend beyond that suggested by Network Rail, which is that it aims to have a climate-resilient service on the Wherry lines in 28 years’ time?"
Transport minister Wendy Morton replied: "I am grateful to my honourable friend for raising this matter today, and I appreciate the incident on Sunday near Haddiscoe will undoubtedly have caused disruption to passengers.
"Network Rail recently outlined its long-term adaptation ambitions, which are now being considered at local level.
"Importantly, this will help build greater understanding of the key areas of vulnerability that are critical in the development of plans to mitigate and minimise impacts on passengers."
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