130yr old Cliff Railway goes digital

Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway may be over 130yrs old but thanks to Openreach and good old-fashioned lateral thinking, and engineering know-how, the Cliff Railway will enter the next 130yrs with Full Fibre broadband. The upgrade forms part of Openreach’s investment to build Full Fibre broadband technology to thousands of homes and businesses in 33 “harder-to-reach” cities, towns and villages across the South West . The challenge was how to physically connect the 21^st century digital infrastructure between the bottom station in Lynmouth with the top station in Lynton, which stands 500ft above. The solution, was to lay the cable between the railway tracks from top to bottom, a full 862ft and on one of the steepest railway inclines in the world. With the Cliff Railway team and Openreach working collaboratively the cable was successfully installed and means that, by the time the 2021 season starts, the railway, it’s office, the Cliff Top café buildings and the Twin Towns Tourist Information Centre will all be connected to gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure. It is hoped that the new ultrafast, ultra-reliable connectivity will enable the railway and the Tourist Information Centre to continue its important role in bringing tourism to the area. Adrian Chamberlain, Clerk of Works for Openreach’s Chief Engineer’s team said, “Because of their geography, Lynton and Lynmouth have without doubt been the most challenging locations I’ve surveyed in thirty years of being an engineer. With a build of this size and complexity, collaboration with local people is vital, and we’ve loved planning this project with Ashley and the team at the Railway.” #Lynton #Lynmouth #visitexmoor #visitdevon #openreach #devon #broadband #exmoor #connected