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Tuesday 4 Nov 2003

£1.2M FOR NEW BRIDGE IN STANDISH

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Network Rail is to spend £1.2m replacing a vital railway bridge near Wigan that has been carrying trains over a road since it first opened to the public in about 1880. Bridge 62, which carries the West Coast main line over the B5239 Rectory Lane in Standish (Wigan), was last strengthened 35 years ago. Preparatory work for the latest project has already taken place over a number of weekends but the main task of sliding out the old bridge and putting in the new one will be carried out on Saturday and Sunday 15 and 16 November. The bridge actually consists of two spans, one of which is no longer used. The remaining span carries the two-track railway with trains travelling at up to 110 mph. The redundant span has been grit blasted and repainted but the ‘live’ span will be replaced entirely. The majority of the work will be done by the North West Structures Alliance, a partnership between Network Rail and Wigan-based Edmund Nuttall Ltd. It involves switching off the 25,000-volt overhead power lines and removing the railway track and sleepers before the bridge deck is disconnected from the rest of the structure. It will then be jacked up before being lowered to rest on multi-axle road vehicles and taken away. This delicate, specialist element of the work will be carried out by the same Dutch heavy-lift company that was involved in raising the sunken Russian submarine Kursk from the Barents Sea. - more - Bridge – 2 The new bridge deck was manufactured in Scotland and brought to a temporary compound created at the end of August alongside the railway line in Standish, where it has been assembled. In the reverse of the demolition procedure, the new bridge deck will be slid into place inch by inch, using road vehicles that typically reach a speed of half a metre an hour. Once securely in place, new sleepers and track will be laid and the overhead power lines that supply electricity to trains will be re-energised so that they can start running normally again on the Monday morning. To allow the work to happen, Rectory Lane will be closed from 6 pm on Thursday 13 November and will reopen on the following Tuesday (18 November). Diversions will be signposted but it is recommended that vehicles use the A49 Wigan Road and its junction with Chorley Road, the A5106. Train services that use the west coast main line between Wigan and Preston will be affected but only on the Saturday and Sunday. Full details are available from the national rail enquiry service by calling 08457 48 49 50. Network Rail regional director Tim Clarke said: “This is a vital task in our effort to rebuild the railway and will ensure the services on the West Coast main line linking London with the north west and Scotland continue to operate reliably and safely for many years to come.”