Friday 30 Jun 2023
Railway reopen after Wigan to Bolton electrification bridge work
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
- | North West & Central: North West
Rail passengers are being thanked for their patience after a six-day closure of the line between Wigan and Bolton to rebuild a bridge as part of a major electrification project.
In preparation for the installation of high-voltage overhead electricity cables, alterations need to be made to 17 railway structures along the route, including the new bridge in Hindley.
Network Rail engineers have spent the last week demolishing a former road bridge which took Ladies Lane over the railway beside Hindley station.
They then used a large crane to lift pre-cast concrete sections into position to build a modern structure which will be suitable for electric lines to be installed underneath next year.
It’s part of a £78m investment to upgrade a 6.5-mile stretch of railway* to enable electric trains to serve the key North West towns in the future.
Train services between Wigan and Bolton resumed today (Friday 30 June) after six days of rail replacement bus services.
However, Hindley station itself remains closed for passengers until Friday 24 July with improvement work continuing there.
Stephen Townley, Network Rail senior programme manager, said: “We’d like to thank passengers and residents for their patience and support whilst our engineering teams have been working around the clock to demolish and rebuild this complex bridge in Hindley. We know this has been disruptive for people in the local area with increased traffic and noise and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“While the rail route has now reopened, trains still won’t call at Hindley station until Friday 24 July as station improvements are still ongoing. Meanwhile we’ll be continuing work on the new structure to reinstate various utilities services, install new lighting and lay road surfacing to restore the full carriageway over the summer so the new Ladies Lane bridge is ready for traffic and road users by the 1st September.”
The same diversionary route** remains in place for road users while Network Rail's work in Hindley continues.
When this is complete engineers will move on to the next structure which needs to be altered as part of the major electrification programme, which will be Green Lane footbridge at Ince.
Network Rail will write to residents and release more detail on that work in due course ahead of the project starting later this summer.
For more information on railway electrification visit: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/living-by-the-railway/electrification/overhead-line-equipment/
Notes to Editors
*The 6.5-mile route has two railway lines running in either direction which means a total of 13 miles of track will eventually have overhead electric lines installed above to power cleaner, greener trains in future.
** For those travelling from the Ladies Lane side of the bridge closure, you will be directed onto A58 towards Westhoughton and then long B5236 Church Street, left onto A6 and left onto B5239 Bolton Road. For those travelling from the Hall Lane side of the bridge closure, you will be directed right onto B5239 Bolton Road, right onto A6, through Westhoughton onto A58. Please download our diversion map to see these routes.
Contact information
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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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