In a rare move construction materials have been airlifted into position by helicopter for essential repairs to a ventilation shaft in one of the deepest railway tunnels in Britain.

Network Rail has completed essential maintenance to Cowburn Tunnel* on the Hope Valley line as part of a major £800,000 Great North Rail Project investment.

The tunnel between Edale and Chinley goes underneath key peaks near Kinder Scout and Mam Tor in the Peak District National Park.

Because of its remote location, helicopter pilots were drafted in to transport vital materials and components for work on the tunnel’s ventilation shaft.

Vertically dug 241 metres into the hillside, it’s one of the deepest railway ventilation shafts in the country**.

If it were a building it would be taller than Canary Wharf in London.

Click here for full article:https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/helicopters-get-railway-engineers-deeper-underground-in-the-peak-district