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Tuesday 1 Oct 2013

Vital bridge installation this weekend as part of Ipswich railway upgrade

Region & Route:

| Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

| Southern

This weekend, a vital part of the Ipswich Chord project to build a new stretch of track that will help to take more freight off the roads and onto rail will be delivered when a new bridge is installed over Sproughton Road in Ipswich.

Between Saturday 5 and Monday 7 October 2013, Network Rail and contractor C Spencer Ltd will be transporting and installing a new bridge over Sproughton Road to sit beside the existing bridge. This work will complete a key stage of the upgrade to the railway in the area, forming a direct freight link between the Stowmarket and Felixstowe lines.

Temporary parking restrictions and road diversions will be in place during these works, and the following roads will be closed to all traffic:

• Europa Way closed to traffic from 3pm on Saturday to 5pm on Sunday
• Sproughton Road roundabout closed to traffic from 5pm on Saturday to 6am on Monday

Network Rail is building a new 1.2km stretch of track, or ‘chord’, north of Ipswich goods yard linking the East Suffolk line and Great Eastern main line on part of the site of the former Harris meat factory.

The chord will remove the need for freight trains travelling to and from the Port of Felixstowe to use the sidings adjacent to Ipswich station as a turning point, eliminating a major bottleneck on the busy Great Eastern main line and freeing up capacity for both passenger and freight services.

Richard Schofield, route managing director, Network Rail, said: “The work we are doing at Ipswich, together with the other enhancements along the cross-country route between Felixstowe and Nuneaton in the West Midlands, is a key part of our plans to take more freight off roads and onto rail.

“This project will help to take up to 750,000 lorry journeys off the road every year by 2030, reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions as well as improving road safety.”

The project is set to be completed by April 2014, and includes the completion of four new bridges, two new embankments, a 350m retaining wall, 1.2km of new track and signalling equipment, and improvements to the existing over head line equipment.

The chord forms an important part of Network Rail’s strategic freight network, a programme of investment to improve freight capacity across Britain’s railway.