More reliable journeys after major £1.4m Merseyside railway upgrade

Wednesday 3 Feb 2021

More reliable journeys after major £1.4m Merseyside railway upgrade

Region & Route:: North West & Central; | North West & Central: North West

Passengers and motorists are benefiting from work to refurbish a major railway bridge in St Helens.

The £1.4m Network Rail investment as part of the Great North Rail Project has seen the railway bridge spanning Rainford Bypass (A570) refurbished and strengthened so that it will remain safe and reliable for decades to come.

To complete the work, a series of road closures were needed, as well as a weekend closure of the railway in 2020.

Nathaly Oshodin, scheme project manager for Network Rail, said: “I’d like to thank residents and road users for their patience while we undertook this major upgrade to the railway bridge over the Rainford Bypass.

“The Great North Rail Project investment will secure the bridge’s future for road users below and improve the reliability of rail journeys for rail passengers above.”

Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern, said: “The essential repairs to the railway bridge over the Rainford Bypass carried out by Network Rail will provide our customers with a more reliable railway for many years.

“We are proud to be part of a partnership which is working to improve train services in the North for everyone.”

Conor McGinn, MP for St Helens North, said: "I would like to thank Network Rail for undertaking repair work on the bridge, which will ensure it is safe for railway passengers and motorists using the bypass below.

"I have appreciated Network Rail's engagement with me, the community in Rainford and local commuters to keep us updated and minimise disruption."

The essential investment included the waterproofing of the bridge deck, repainting the steel work, and renewing the track which runs over the bridge itself.

The work took slightly longer than planned due to damaged waterproofing material which helps to protect the bridge structure.

Passengers are reminded to continue following government Covid safety advice when using public transport.

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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.