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Friday 29 Apr 2016

Cardiff Road bridge in Newport reopens to two-way traffic following essential upgrade work

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

The Cardiff Road bridge in Newport, has reopened to two-way road traffic today (Friday 29 April) after Network Rail completed essential upgrade work in preparation for the arrival of the new fleet of electric trains.

A single lane traffic management system had been in place while the bridge was replaced with a new structure, part of the Network Rail’s £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan to electrify the South Wales Mainline, which will provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers and businesses.

Andrew Griffiths, programme manager for Network Rail Wales said: “I would like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding while we carried out the upgrade of this bridge in preparation for electrifying the railway.

“The team worked hard to ensure that we completed the work on schedule and we were able to reopen the road to two-way traffic on time.

“Electrification will provide a faster, greener, quieter, more reliable railway for passengers and improve links from South Wales to major towns and cities, including London.”

Network Rail engineers will be returning to Cardiff Road in June to raise the bridge parapets and to minimise disruption to motorists the road will remain open, however the bus lane will be temporarily closed to ensure this work can be carried out safely.

Elsewhere in Newport work continues to upgrade Bridge Street Road bridge in the city centre and the road over the bridge will be closed to all traffic from Tuesday 3 May 2016 until late 2016 to safely complete this essential work.

ENDS

 Notes to Editor

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail’s £40bn spending plan for Britain’s railways for the five year period up to 31 March 2019. The plan is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to tremendous growth the railways have seen – a doubling of passengers in the past twenty years. The plan will deliver a bigger, better railway with more trains, longer trains, faster trains with more infrastructure, more reliable infrastructure and better facilities for passengers, especially at stations.