LESSONS learned from storm damage caused in 2015 resulted in a section of flooded railway line in Cumbria reopening within 24 hours this week.

Vital signalling equipment at Caldew Junction, just north of Carlisle, was damaged by Storm Desmond in 2015 resulting in the closure of the busy line West Coast line to Scotland for 14 days.

In the months that followed, Network Rail raised the signalling equipment on to 3m high stilts.

The move paid off this week when Storm Ciara flooded Caldew again, the railway reopening with two days as it fared much better with flood water.

Ahead of this weekend's arrival of Storm Dennis, Adam Checkley, weather resilience programme manager at Network Rail, said: “While not perfect, one day of disruption is far better than 14. Small improvements like this are helping us cope better with the increasingly extreme British weather."