'Pleasing' progress on Bridgnorth Cliff Railway repairs fuels hopes it could be back on track soon

It has also begun examining further stretches of the retaining wall that extend beyond the confines of the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway's funicular line, to ascertain any further damage.

Bridgnorth Cliff Railway, which has been ferrying passengers from Low Town to High Town since 1892, was shut on health and safety grounds before Christmas following the discovery of a crack in a retaining wall.

Repairs to fix the damaged wall have been ongoing since the end of March.

In an update on the progress of the works, Clare Turner, clerk at Bridgnorth Town Council, said they were "pleased with the progress with the remedial work on the retaining wall and are receiving weekly updates from the contractor on the progress".

She added that the town council was now extending the examination of the wall further along Castle Walk.

She said: "The town council are also taking the opportunity at this time to complete a survey and review of the remaining wall at this location.

"This survey has been commissioned and the town council are awaiting a response from the structural engineer, until this is received and reviewed by the town council, we are unable to comment further."

Owner of the cliff railway, Malvern Tipping welcomed the news.

He said: "We had suspected that the remainder of the retaining wall would be in a similar state of disrepair. Although the wall diverges away from the cliff railway as it follows the contour parallel to Castle Walk, it is nonetheless at a higher elevation.

"Therefore, we shall be much relieved to see that repaired too so that we can be assured that there will be no issues arising as we move forward."

He added: "Our local management is consulting the contractors to ascertain if we shall be able to open once they move on to repair the next section of the wall."