Channel swimmers can return to their traditional launch base this summer after Aycliffe’s rail footbridge was reopened.

The bridge had been destroyed with the Dover to Folkestone line and sea wall by a storm on Christmas Eve 2015.

The line and sea wall reopened last September and the bridge was formally reopened today.

Now, swimmers can use it to take off from Dover’s Shakespeare Beach to France.

Michael Read, who is president of the Channel Swimming Association and has swum the Channel 33 times, said: “I’m delighted that the beach is back because it was always the traditional starting point and Channel swimmers have such an affection for it.

“Over the years we have also been able to use Samphire Hoe and now the pilots can choose a beach depending on the tides and how they will affect the swimmer.”

The beach is also now available again for dog walkers.

Members of the CSA joined Network Rail engineers and Dover MP Charlie Elphicke for the official opening coming after the mammoth task of reopening the rail link itself.

Network Rail’s director of route asset management, Alan Ross, said: “We knew that this was going to be a huge job.

“We not only had to rebuild and protect the railway between Dover and Folkestone, but we also had to protect the cliff itself.

“We all felt responsible for making this project as good as it could be and finally we can say we’ve achieved our aim and the beach is back open.”

Mr Elphicke, who chaired the sea wall repair task force after the storm, said: “Our fight to fix the sea wall just goes to show what can be achieved if people work together and get on with the job.

“Dedicated workers from Network Rail and Costain grafted round the clock – and the rail line was back on track three months ahead of schedule."

Repairs began in January 2016, when the first of 90,000 tonnes of granite rock armour was delivered to the site.

Since then, Network Rail engineers have been working to place the rock armour along a 375m stretch of the wall and put the new footbridge in place across the railway and down to the beach.

The project to rebuild the railway and part of the sea wall at Shakespeare Beach began immediately after Christmas 2015 and cost £39.8m.

The rock armour was shipped to Dover by barge, arriving at the port and latterly on a barge anchored offshore.

The railway was rebuilt on a 235m viaduct supported by 138 columns and the rock armour was arranged along the beach to protect both it and the cliff face behind it from the power of the sea.

At its peak, more than 1,000 people worked on the project at Dover, with around 150 grafting on the beach works and the footbridge.