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Wednesday 1 Mar 2023

Buxton line passengers thanked as railway reopens in Whaley Bridge

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

Rail passengers are being thanked for their patience after an 11-day closure of the Buxton line for major improvements in Whaley Bridge.

Today (Wednesday 1 March) trains are once again running between Hazel Grove and Buxton after railway engineers replaced a Victorian railway bridge.

Network Rail is investing £5.1m to replace and sensitively rebuild the heritage structure to secure the railway link for decades to come.

Since Saturday 18 February, 90 people from 15 separate contractors have worked 24 hours a day to:

• remove the old railway lines
• demolish the old cast iron and concrete bridge structure
• carefully crane the new steel into place
• construct a new bridge deck from pre-cast concrete panels
• reinstate the railway above ready for trains to run again today

A total of 45 tonnes of cast iron was removed during the demolition of the old railway bridge.

Last week engineers on site explained how complications with demolishing the former 160-year-old structure meant an extra day was needed to rebuild the railway lines above.

In that time the team made much faster progress on scaffolding work, allowing the footpath below to also reopen.

Today pedestrians can now go under the new structure, four days earlier than expected.

Helena Williams, Network Rail project manager, said: “I’d really like to thank passengers and local people for their patience while we’ve been making Buxton Road bridge fit for the future. I do hope that when people see this new structure they will be impressed and understand why we’ve had to carry out this essential work.

“We will still be working on the underside of the bridge throughout March so road diversions will still be in place, but I'm pleased to say we've been able to reopen the footpath today instead of Sunday as we had originally expected, reconnecting the town's main thoroughfare for pedestrians."

Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern, said: “All investment in rail infrastructure is to be welcomed and I would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding whilst these improvements have been made between Hazel Grove and Buxton.”

Further painting, masonry work and road sign installation will take place over the coming weeks to ensure the new bridge is safe for road users below.

So this can be carried out Buxton Road will remain closed to traffic until Friday 31 March.

All work is expected to be complete by April 2023.

Network Rail has worked closely with High Peak Borough Council and Historic England to make sure the work is carried out in consideration of the 1863 built bridge's heritage status. 

The team has preserved around one third of the original structure, and the new additions have been carefully recreated at a specialist factory in Lanarkshire in Scotland.

You can find out more about some of the conservation work carried out across the railway network at:  www.networkrail.co.uk/working-with-railway-heritage.