EXTENDED WORK ON LEYLAND STATION BRIDGE

Monday 15 Oct 2007

EXTENDED WORK ON LEYLAND STATION BRIDGE

Region & Route:

Work on a £750,000 project by Network Rail to strengthen Leyland Station bridge to meet current standards for roads passing over railway lines will be completed two weeks later than planned. The work, which is being entirely funded by Lancashire County Council, is required to remove an existing weight restriction on the bridge. It involves installing a reinforced concrete slab to the existing bridge beneath the carriageway and has required a significant amount of utility service diversion work. The road was closed on 6 August but because the extra utility service diversion work and significant resurfacing of the road have been added to the job, it will now not re-open until 28 October. Gary Openshaw for Network Rail said: "We apologise to drivers for the extra inconvenience that this two week extension to the closure will bring. The good news is that, by doing all the resurfacing now, the road won't have to be closed again at a later date to do that work." A scheme is under way to look at 10,000 road-over-rail bridges nationwide now that 40 and 44 tonnes lorries are permitted on Britain's roads under EU regulations. Any bridges that do not meet the latest criteria will either be strengthened or, if necessary, completely rebuilt. Network Rail has written to local residents and businesses to advise them of the work.

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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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