Media centre

Thursday 31 Dec 2020

Bridge replacement near Croydon, part of £750m project to modernise the railway across Sussex

Region & Route:

Southern: Sussex

| Southern

Network Rail successfully replaced two bridge decks on all four tracks of the Brighton Main Line at Selsdon Road bridge near Croydon, over the holiday weekend.

The work will provide greater resilience to the infrastructure and help reduce the risk of future bridge bashes. The Fast line deck was successfully completed over Christmas Day and Boxing Day with the Slow line deck delivered over the 27^th and 28^th December.

Works also included the installation of new ballast, track sleepers and running rails while COVID marshals were also appointed to help maintain a 2m distance between workers. Despite restricted access to the worksite due to the location of the bridge in a residential area, disruption was kept to a minimum.

The railway in Sussex is made up of hundreds of overbridges, underbridges, footbridges and tunnels and we’re investing £112 million to replace or refurbish several structures on the route.

This investment means that we are doing more to improve passenger journeys across Sussex and into London than ever before.

Shaun King, route director, Sussex said:

“The bridge lift at Selsdon Road went very well with the team working extremely hard over the weekend to complete the installation. We also thank local residents for their patience and cooperation while this activity was underway.

“The new bridge delivers a stronger and more robust structure which better serves the community and the railway for many years to come.”