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An appeal for help was launched within days, and many fellow railways as well as members of the public rallied round to help the SVR. The final cost of repairs was approximately £3.7m. Of this total, grants from the European Regional Development Fund, Advantage West Midlands and the [[:Category:Lottery funding|Heritage Lottery Fund]] amounted to approximately £1.9m, insurance contributed approximately £1.0m with the balance met by funds from the public appeal and SVR reserves.
Water draining from the surrounding land towards the River Severn normally flows under the railway through [[List of infrastructure#Types of bridge and crossing | culverts]]. Many of these became blocked by debris brought down by the storms, contributing to the number of washouts that damaged the line. Prior to the storms, the SVR possessed plans identifying 28 culverts under the railway. Subsequently, a detailed survey carried out to identify any unrecorded culverts increased this number to 108.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Sowden (2012), P30]]</ref> All the culverts were examined and upgraded or replaced where necessary. All workers entering enclosed spaces need to hold the relevant confined spaces certification and rescue winches, gas monitors, breathing equipment etc. need to be available. In view of this the SVR put the inspection duties out to specialist contractors.<ref>[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=59741#59741 [[Alvin Barker|Barker, A.]], 'Floods' thread, SVR Forum 7 February 2008] (Retrieved 23 December 2020)</ref> All are now numbered, their precise location and GPS coordinates recorded, and all are checked on a regular basis.
A description of some of the repair work undertaken by the SVR's Signal & Telecommunications Department is contained in this article from SVR News reproduced on their informal web site. ( [http://www.svrsig.org.uk/svr/Iss161.htm Link] )
