Tuesday 6 Apr 2010
FIRST WINCHESTER RAIL BRIDGE COMPLETED ON TIME
- Region & Route:
- Southern: Wessex
- | Southern
Network Rail has successfully rebuilt the first of three bridges in the Winchester area as part of a £71m project designed to remove up to 50,000 lorries a year from the region’s roads and provide a cheaper, quicker and more practical way of transporting goods around the country.
During the last three months, a new wider bridge deck has been built at St Cross (B3335) on top of the existing structure which will accommodate space for a shared footpath and cycle track has been installed making it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The final part of the construction work took place over the Easter weekend when the old structure was demolished. Major construction work to rebuild bridges will begin at Stoke Charity on 6 April and Andover Road on 12 April.
Richard O’Brien, Network Rail’s route director for Wessex, said: “Now the first phase of the project at St Cross has been delivered on time and the road has reopened, we can start the major work to rebuild the bridges on Andover Road and at Stoke Charity.
“It is important for the environment and the regional economy that larger freight containers can be transported efficiently by rail from Southampton. This cannot be achieved without rebuilding a number of bridges, which we are doing as quickly as we can. We will continue to take all reasonable steps to keep disruption to a minimum.”
The work planned at the remaining sites includes:
ANDOVER ROAD:
Andover Road bridge is scheduled to be closed from 12 April until 12 July 2010.
The new structure will be wider, offering a better footpath and space for a cycle track improving safety.
A temporary footbridge has been installed so residents can continue to cross the railway while the work is carried out.
A major water main and other utilities run through Andover Road bridge. These needed to be re-directed by the utility companies prior to work starting on the bridge itself.
STOKE CHARITY:
Stoke Charity Road bridge will be closed from 6 April 2010 until 30 July 2010.
The new structure has been designed to incorporate a new footpath, making it safer and easier for pedestrians to cross the railway.
A temporary footbridge has been installed so residents can continue to cross the railway while the work is carried out.
Notes to editors
Minor work to complete St Cross will be taking place until the end of May.
About the scheme
Freight services are indispensable to everyday life. They deliver food, clothing, electronics and other goods to stock shops and supermarkets, coal to provide electricity to power the nation and aggregates for major industries. The freight industry makes a valuable contribution to the regional and national economy, and the government is investing £350m in projects to achieve the significant economic, efficiency and environmental benefits rail freight offers.
The Southampton to Nuneaton freight upgrade scheme will bring the following benefits:
Vehicles off the road
It is estimated this scheme will enable the transfer of up to 50,000 container freight journeys a year from the Britain’s roads to the railway. This will help reduce carbon emissions and ease traffic congestion on the road network.
Environmental
Rail is also one of the most environmentally friendly forms of transport. Road freight generates six times more carbon dioxide than rail freight for each tonne moved, so the greater transfer of freight from road to rail as a result of this scheme will lead to a significant reduction of carbon emissions.
Efficiency
High cube containers are larger than standard containers, and therefore more items can be transported within them, making them a more efficient means of distributing goods. Rail can be a cheaper, quicker and a more practical way for businesses to transport their goods around the country and beyond. At present high cube containers are too big to be carried on standard height platform wagons on much of the rail network. Therefore the only way to carry them by rail is on special low wagons. However, this reduces efficiency and capacity by up to 33%, making rail a less competitive form of transport for freight.
Economic growth
The upgraded rail freight link will improve the competitiveness and encourage economic growth within the South East region. This project will also make it easier to import and export goods, helping Britain compete more effectively in the global market.
ABOUT THE SCHEME
The route will take freight trains from Southampton to the West Coast Main Line near Nuneaton, via Winchester, Basingstoke, Didcot, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Warwick.
Improvement works are being planned along this route to structures which are not currently large enough for high-cube containers to pass through. These are scheduled to be carried out over the next two years.
Funding for this project has been agreed from the Department for Transport (DfT) via a Transport Innovation Fund TIF(P) grant. Additional funding is being provided by South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), ABP, DP World Southampton, Advantage West Midlands (AWM), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Network Rail Discretionary Fund. The DfT’s Transport Innovation Fund, The Future of Transport" (July 2004) supports the costs of smarter, innovative local transport packages that combine demand management measures *support innovative mechanisms which raise new funds; *support the funding of regional, inter-regional and local schemes that are beneficial to national productivity.
The current freight container market is seeing a significant growth in the percentage of ‘high cube’ containers. The usage of 9’ 6” containers currently stands at over 40%. This is expected to rise to between 50% and 70% by 2019.
Network Rail, in partnership with the passenger and freight train operators, has consulted with a range of individuals and organisations, including Hampshire county council, Winchester city council and local politicians throughout the planning of these projects.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
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.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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