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Friday 21 Dec 2012

MP opens Dawlish station footbridge

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris today (Friday 21 December) officially opened Britains first grade II listed plastic footbridge at Dawlish station.

She cut a ribbon across the steps to the new footbridge off the main platform at the grade II llisted seaside station on the south coast of Devon. The footbridge was part of a £1m improvement project.

The event follows the demolition of the old steel footbridge on 7 October and the installation of the new polymer composite footbridge over the weekend of 13 and 14 October 2012.

Anne Marie Morris said: "I know people wanted to see something done about the rusting old bridge and I have been pushing to bring support for their case. I am pleased to say that Dawlish railway station now has a bridge that is fit for purpose."

Patrick Hallgate, Network Rail’s Western route managing director, said: "The coastal railway line from Exeter to Newton Abbot, part of Network Rail’s Great Western main line, is noted for its particularly scenic qualities and for being one of the most exposed in the country, constantly battling the effects of coastal erosion and salt spray corrosion.

"Dawlish station was originally designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1830 and is grade II listed. The station’s 17.5 metre long covered steel footbridge, reconstructed in 1937, had deteriorated beyond economic repair so any similar form of replacement probably would have met the same fate in due course.

"Its replacement is a lightweight plastic structure weighing only five tonnes, about one third the weight of the old footbridge. We are hoping that it will require considerably less maintenance than the structure it has replaced."

First Great Western, regional manager west of England, Julian Crow said: "The First Great Western station at Dawlish welcomes almost half a million visitors a year. This new footbridge provides essential access for those visitors and is sure to stand not only the test of time but whatever the English weather can throw at it."

Designed by consulting engineers Tony Gee and Partners and their sub-consultant Optima Projects, the new footbridge has been constructed using modern advanced materials technology and is the first fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite bridge installed at a mainline station in Britain and notably the first grade II listed FRP bridge.

The structure aesthetically replicates the character of the original steel structure, but provides a much lighter and more durable solution and is expected to result in considerable through-life cost savings due to reduced maintenance expenditure.

The structure was installed by main contractor BAM Nuttall and fabricated by Pipex Structural Composites of Plymouth. It mainly uses standard FRP structural profiles, produced by a process known as pultrusion, combined with parapet sandwich panels moulded by film infusion. The stairs at each end of the bridge are also moulded FRP units.