When Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the sea wall at Dawlish in the 1840s he was not allowed to implement a track-level footpath along the whole route. Residents of Sea Lawn Terrace at Dawlish insisted that the footpath be carried at beach level in front of their houses. This section of the sea wall was breached by a storm on 4 February 2014. Ballast-filed shipping containers were placed on the footpath to provide some protection while rebuilding took place. The core of the wall had been completed and track relaid to allow train services to resume on 4 April but work still continued for a while after this date.