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Tuesday 17 Nov 2020

Road users asked for patience as repairs to rail bridge near Ashford continue

Region & Route:

Southern: Kent

Network Rail is asking road users to be patient while repairs to a bridge in a village near Ashford are completed.

The work underway on Ashford Road in Hamstreet are taking longer than anticipated after further issues were found with the structure and is now expected to be complete in mid-December.

Passengers on the railway will notice little difference as services will continue as normal with a single line over the bridge continuing to operate.

Investigations to the bridge during early works found that some large structural components have corroded affecting the girders holding up the bridge. Those sections need replacing which requires a temporary scaffold platform and supports.

Unfortunately, that means that for safety reasons the road underneath must stay closed and road users will need to follow a marked diversion via the A2070 and Ashford Road.

Richard Crew, Senior Asset Engineer for Network Rail, said: “Temporary repairs are ongoing to the Hamstreet road bridge and while we're able to ensure rail passengers are unaffected by keeping one line open, for safety reasons the road must remain closed, for which we apologise to road users.

“Once our repairs are done the bridge should not need further attention for many years and we thank road users for their patience while we work safely to complete the repairs.”

Freight trains are not able to operate during the works due to weight and capacity restrictions on the single rail line which is continuing to operate. 

The repairs should be completed by December 18th.  Local residents are also being informed by letter.