Biggleswade Railway Bridge closure

[StateOfPlay]

A recently announced railway bridge closure is causing some anger locally.

http://www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk/n...ade-bridge-closure-plans-spark-fury-1-6854292

A bridge closure in Biggleswade could cause chaos for up to four months while repair works take place.

The bridge at the north end of the High Street will close on Christmas Eve later this year and not re-open until Easter 2016.

The announcement by Central Beds Council sparked a furious response from Biggleswade Town Councillors at a meeting on Tuesday evening.

Biggleswade Mayor Hazel Ramsay said: “We cannot believe this decision has been made. All the councillors are appalled it is going to happen.

“We are extremely upset that it is going to take so long, it will be bad for trade in the town and we have concerns about alternative routes as well.

“It is the main road into town...

As I understand it, the bridge is being replaced, it is on the main road into and through Biggleswade Town centre. The London Road, which becomes the High Street.

The part that is causing some concern is that it will be closed for 4 months, to allow 4 days of work to take place. This is to allow less disruption to trains on the Peterborough to KGX route. Network Rail have given 2 days at Christmas, when the bridge will be removed, and then another 2 days has been given at Easter, when the bridge will be put back in place.

Many shopkeepers are concerned it will affect trade, especially at Christmas.

There is a petition that some chap has organised, last I checked it had 600+ signatures, not sure that will have the effect of getting plans changed. His campaign is "4 days not 4 months".

 

[jopsuk]

They seem to be equating the four days when the railway needs to be closed with work only taking place on those four days.

When the reality is that during that four months there will be work every day to first prepare for the removal of the old bridge, prepare for the installation of the new bridge and then connect everything back up- none of which will impinge upon the operational railway and thus won't need the line closed.
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Also, I love it when councillors raise concerns about emergency services, when I would have thought that the emergency services have already been consulted by Network Rail?

 

[StateOfPlay]

It is not 4 months work, the reason for the 4 months is that they can't perform any works while the trains run, so the times Network Rail can agree to are 2 days at Christmas and 2 days at Easter.

 

[CdBrux]

I used to live just down the line from Biggleswade, and my parents still do, so I know the town fairly well. This is a very busy bridge and it will for sure cause a lot of issues in the town. It cuts over 50% of the town off its main shopping area and also the station car park! The alternative bridges are through much more residential areas and not at all direct (those looking at a map may see another bridge immediately to the south - this is quite a narrow road which is difficult to pass down at the best of times!).

Having followed the detailed and interesting updates around the NW triangle electrification it does seem 4 months is a reasonably standard length of time.

I am just old enough to remember when many other bridges in the area were demolished and rebuilt for the ECML electrification north of Hitchin. For most of the bridges then the problem was much reduced as a temporary Bailey bridge was provided whilst the permanent structure was being replaced. I am sure many local residents will remember that and question why that cannot be done in this case. It should be noted that the bridge replacement is a district council responsibility, not NR, but as said the timetable is dictated to a large extent by the possesions NR will allow.

 

[jopsuk]

if they suspended parking on the road to south it would help

 

[StateOfPlay]

if they suspended parking on the road to south it would help

Yes, that is the plan, a diversion around the town onto the A1, and a one way route on Back Street where they will also have to suspend resident parking bays to allow HGV access.

http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/Images/Stratton Street diversion Route_tcm6-68387.pdf#False

 

[jopsuk]

There really shouldn't be much in the way of through traffic anyway...

 

[CdBrux]

There really shouldn't be much in the way of through traffic anyway...

Well I don't know where the traffic is to & from but I can assure you there is a lot of traffic passing over the bridge!