£350, 000 TO STRENGTHEN NORTHAMPTON RAILWAY BRIDGE

Tuesday 17 Aug 2004

£350, 000 TO STRENGTHEN NORTHAMPTON RAILWAY BRIDGE

Region & Route:: | North West & Central; | Southern

A £350,000 project to strengthen Irchester railway bridge in Northampton, enabling it to meet new EU standards to carry 40 tonne vehicles, is to be undertaken by Network Rail. Andy Milne, Network Rail’s Project Manager for London North Western territory explained: “This essential engineering work is yet another local example of Network Rail’s commitment to rebuilding Britain’s railway. “It highlights our partnership working with local authorities around the country to meet new EU standards for strengthening bridges.” In order to carry out the work the road will be closed to vehicular traffic for seven weeks, with pedestrian access maintained by a temporary footbridge. The road closure will take effect from 6am on Monday 23 August and is scheduled to re-open on Sunday10 October. A sign-posted diversion route has been agreed with Northampton County Council, which is part funding the project. The project involves the strengthening of an existing wrought iron beam bridge that carries Station Road over the Midland Mainline railway and the casting of a reinforced concrete slab over the top of the existing bridge. Train services will operate as normal during the project.

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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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