Thursday 29 Apr 2004
NETWORK RAIL INVESTS £1.5M ON HARRINGWORTH VIADUCT
- Region & Route:
- | North West & Central
- | Southern
Network Rail has begun work on a three-year maintenance project at Europe’s largest masonry rail structure. The company is investing £1.5m over the course of the project to carry out essential work to the 125-year old Harringworth Viaduct, spanning the Welland Valley in Northamptonshire. -more- Harringworth –2 The viaduct is around 57ft in height, has 82 arches - each with a 40ft span, and is over three quarters of a mile long. The line across the viaduct forms part of the freight route between Manton Junction and Kettering near Corby. Over 20 million bricks were used in the construction of the bridge and maintenance work will include: · Brickwork repairs · Re-pointing · Re-casing · Re-building sections of the bridge’s parapets · Minor stonework. Glenn Darby, Structure Maintenance Engineer for the Midlands region commented “The construction of the viaduct started back in 1874, and the bricks used were made of local clay, as would be expected of a viaduct of this age, the brickwork has deteriorated in certain places over the years. We are working carefully to restore the bridge to its former glory and the project forms part of Network Rail’s commitment to rebuild Britain’s railway.”
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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
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