Media centre

Tuesday 29 Dec 2009

O, HOLY NIGHT - DISS GETS NEW RAIL BRIDGE AFTER ROUND-THE-CLOCK EFFORT

Region & Route:

| Southern

While most of us were opening presents, enjoying turkey with all the trimmings and watching the Queen’s speech, a team of Network Rail engineers worked around the clock over the Christmas weekend to replace the main railway bridge in Diss in just 72 hours.

Andrew Munden, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, explains: “The old bridge over Victoria Road was approaching the end of its life-span and needed to be replaced. Many more trains use this stretch of line than did when the bridge was first built so we’ve installed a new bridge designed to cope with the demands of a busy twenty-first century railway.” 

Network Rail’s project team began working on site in November, carrying out preparatory work so that everything was ready to take advantage of the small amount of time available to replace the bridge over the Christmas weekend.

Once the last train had passed through on Christmas Eve, engineers moved in to dismantle the overhead power lines and cut and remove the existing tracks and ballast before the old deck was lifted out using a giant crane. The new pre-fabricated bridge deck was then inched into place before the ballast was replaced and the tracks and overhead power lines re-connected.

Mr Munden continued: “Our team worked around the clock, starting from the moment the last train passed through Diss on Christmas Eve. Their hard work and professionalism means we’ve been able to provide Diss with a new railway bridge in a single weekend – an impressive feat of engineering and teamwork.”

“I’d like to thank the people of Diss for their co-operation and apologise for any inconvenience caused during this essential bridge replacement. The previous bridge had served the town well for more than 100 years. I’m sure that the new bridge will do the same.”