THE LATEST CUMBRIAN ARRIVAL - HARRINGTON’S BRAND NEW VIADUCT -

Wednesday 12 May 2004

THE LATEST CUMBRIAN ARRIVAL - HARRINGTON’S BRAND NEW VIADUCT -

Region & Route:

Network Rail has been working on Harrington Viaduct since the beginning of February but now the week that we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. The week beginning the Saturday 15 May is when we can say ‘farewell’ to the old and worn structure and welcome, in its place, the new and modern viaduct that the village of Harrington has so patiently waited for over the last four months. This week (15 – 21 May) the railway between Whitehaven and Workington will be closed so that major engineering work can take place. The existing steel, long timbers and piers of the old viaduct will be removed and replaced with new steel and concrete decks on reinforced concrete piers. Four new piers instead of the existing 10 will support the new viaduct. The new viaduct will be put into place using two large cranes, which will lift the prefabricated spans into place once the old viaduct has been removed. The railway will be re-open for trains on Saturday 22 May. A replacement bus service will run frequently between Whitehaven and Workington whilst the line is closed.

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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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