Road bridges to be rebuilt in rail electrification process

Date: 1/10/2012

A number of road bridges may need to be rebuilt or modified in order to allow for the electrification of a major rail link to Wales.

The work will not be carried out immediately, but will need to be done in the next few years as Network Rail works to electrify the route between London and Cardiff, reports Wales Online.

Routes which go directly over the Great Western Main Line may need to be severed for as long as two months, while work is being carried out.

This will affect residents, businesses and farmers, but Network Rail has reassured those who use the roads that disruption will be kept to a minimum.

Ciarán Scanlon, of Network Rail’s national electrification programme, said: “Network Rail will indeed have to alter some bridges and other infrastructure, and this may involve some minor traffic diversions and other disruption.

“We try to keep this to an absolute minimum and would certainly not ask local authorities to pay for work which we are causing.”

When a Great Western Bridge in Berkshire was recently out of action, Network Rail provided a free mini bus service to transport people from one side of the track to the other, so that the structure could be repaired.

It is essential that bridges and some of the rails beneath them are modified in order to allow the route to be modified by its target date of 2017.

Once the London to Cardiff route has been electrified, the plan is to continue the process from the Welsh capital to Swansea and the Valley Lines.

Mr Scanlon said: “However, we have found that some local authorities are taking the opportunity to improve their bridges as part of our works by widening them or by adding pavements or cycle lanes, for example.

“When we carry out this kind of work we ask the local authority to provide the additional funding required.”

Some Welsh Government trunk roads, such as the M4 and A470 may be affected with work needing to be carried out on bridges associated with these routes.

Posted by Mary Treen

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