A £44.5 million project to rebuild a Dover railway could have been blighted with tragedy after youths aimed rocks at workers.

Rocks hurled from a nearby cliff missed site workers by inches as they worked to repair the railway between Dover Priory and Folkestone Central, which has been closed since Christmas after a sea wall started to crumble.

"If they hit anyone, they could have been killed or at the very least have been seriously injured," said Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke.

Network Rail’s ongoing work will eventually create a new, 235-metre long viaduct that will sit on 134 steel and concrete columns. More than 100 of these columns have been completed so far.

Programme manager Steve Kilby said that the consequences of one of the stones hitting someone would have been “enormous”.

The company has since employed its own round-the-clock security and lighting at the top of the cliff.

MP Elphicke said the disruptive youths shouldn’t detract from “the incredible progress made by Network Rail”.

He added: “I’ve been massively impressed by the hard work and dedication of the team, who worked tirelessly to rebuild our railway and we need to support them in any way we can and do our bit to help keep them safe.”