Residents and motorists thanked as Hadfield railway bridge reopens

Thursday 10 Feb 2022

Residents and motorists thanked as Hadfield railway bridge reopens

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

Network Rail is thanking residents and motorists in Hadfield near Glossop after unexpected complications to essential railway bridge maintenance led to an extended road closure.

Work to strengthen & waterproof the railway bridge to make it safer for road users and rail passengers began in October and was due to be complete by January.

However, engineers found uncharted water pipes, drains and electricity cables in the Victorian-built structure after they removed the road surface.

While some of the services were redundant, some were live which meant workers had to dig around them by hand - significantly slowing progress.

Last month it was expected the road would have to stay closed until the end of March.

Because the delay clashed with other roadworks causing further congestion on local roads, Network Rail has been working with Derbyshire County Council on how best to reinstate the road.

Today (10 February) Park Road bridge in Hadfield has safely reopened to traffic despite the bridge work not being fully complete.

It means that later in the year Network Rail will need to return to finish its essential repairs.

Electricity North West will also carry out its work within the bridge structure at the same time to minimise further disruption to local people.

John Ackroyd, Network Rail project manager, said: “We’re sorry to people impacted by the extended closure of Park Road in Hadfield and the disruption this has been causing to the community.

“This work is crucial to secure the bridge on the Hadfield branch of the Glossop to Manchester line. While we know it’s not ideal we have to come back again to finish off the project at a later date, I do hope that in the short-term traffic in the area improves and we can return when it doesn’t clash with other planned road closures.”

Network Rail is working with the electricity provider and Derbyshire County Council to decide when the least disruptive time to complete the Park Road project will be.

For more information on how Network Rail looks after its structures visit: www.networkrail.co.uk/bridges-tunnels-and-viaducts/

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 - North West & Central Region
07740 782954
NWCmediarelations@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.