BARNETBY BRIDGE REPLACED OVER CHRISTMAS: New bridge being lifted at Barnetby

Monday 4 Jan 2010

BARNETBY BRIDGE REPLACED OVER CHRISTMAS

Region & Route:

Engineers from Network Rail worked through Christmas to complete a £1.8m bridge replacement at Barnetby.

Network Rail took advantage of the trains-free period on Christmas and Boxing Day to lift out and entirely replace the rail bridge on Victoria Road just outside Barnetby station.

The removal of the old bridge, which dates back to 1912, and installation of the new one took just 72 hours, with supporting works being completed in a week.

Kevin Preece, area general manager, said: “This was an excellent piece of work by our engineers who worked extremely hard in poor weather conditions to remove the old structure and install the new one in just 72 hours.  We did everything we could to minimise disruption during this essential work and transport was available to take people from one side to another while the footpaths were closed.

“We also saved time by carrying out improvements to Barnetby signal box in the same period.”

Notes to editors

Trains do not run on this line on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. In addition services between Scunthorpe and Cleethorpes were replaced by buses on Sunday 27 December.

Victoria Road/Kings Road was closed to traffic for the duration of the lift and 2 days either side (7 days total).  The footpath was only closed for the 3 days of actual lift.

The replacement bridge was brought to site in components and erected in a specially constructed compound. It was then installed as a single unit, thus keeping the time that the road and railway was closed to a minimum.

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