THE underpass at Dawlish seafront Colonnade will be open from tonight until further notice.

Engineers working on the latest stage of the railway resilience work say they have found an ‘uncharted, capped gas main’ this week which will mean a delay to the planned works.

Network Rail and its contractors started work on Monday on the next phase of work along the sea wall.

The underpass giving access to King’s Walk promenade and the beach was due to have been closed but since the discovery of the gas main, this work as had to be halted.

A spokesman said: ‘This means we can’t currently use the piling rig to install foundations in this location, so we are able to keep a pathway open to safely allow the public through.

‘In the meantime, we are working with the utility company to find a solution and are continuing our work elsewhere on site.’

Network Rail has said it will provide updates when access will need to close again.