Colwall’s new rail bridge is fast tracked for completion

At a packed meeting in Colwall last night (Wednesday 27 February) Herefordshire Council and Network Rail gave a firm commitment and a clear timetable for the village to get a brand new railway bridge in one year.

Network Rail, which owns the bridge and is responsible for its maintenance, said it usually took three years to build a new bridge. But following negotiations at the highest level between the company and the council, the programme has been fast tracked to enable a new rail bridge to be built and opened by March 2009.

"We understand the frustration of residents and traders in Colwall", said Councillor Brian Wilcox, cabinet member for highways and transportation, " and this is why we have worked hard with Network Rail to persuade them to bring forward their usual building schedule. I believe a brand new bridge - one that will last the community for well over a hundred years - is the best option. I am delighted that a new bridge for Colwall has now zoomed right to the top of Network Rail's priority list and we can now look forward to the community getting back to normal by the spring of next year".

Herefordshire Council and Network Rail confirmed that funding was available to construct the new bridge to timetable. The meeting of 120 Colwall residents was told that the process of appointing the right contractor for the job would begin straight away, and would take around three months. From June, the bridge would be designed with the contractor and necessary approvals obtained. Work on fabricating the new structure would begin in October to prepare for the old bridge to be demolished in February next year and the new one constructed with a planned opening in March 2009.

In the meantime, Herefordshire Council said it would work with Colwall Parish Council to improve lighting and signage for the restrictive 'chicane' route of the existing bridge and reassess diversion routes.

Martin Jackson, the council's construction projects leader, defended the current chicane system for light traffic over the bridge, saying that although it appeared crude it was designed to be as safe as possible. If the design were altered by even a small amount, the traffic would put unacceptable stresses on the weaker girders within the bridge, he said.

The bridge was closed in August last year after an inspection presented safety concerns. It was reopened for pedestrians two weeks later and then to light traffic in early December.

The council subsidises bus services in the Colwall area and is putting in extra funds from the bridge works project to make sure that extra re-routing costs to operators are not passed on to passengers.

"The bridge is estimated to carry over 4000 light vehicles each week", added Councillor Wilcox, "and I would give a clear message that Colwall is very much open to business and visitors should not be put off. I would also thank the residents and the parish council for putting forward their views, and for listening to the council and Network Rail and our plans to replace their bridge".

It had been planned to provide a narrow bailey bridge over the existing bridge as an interim measure but engineers determined that it would not be a satisfactory solution. Even if implemented, a bailey bridge would have cost £1/2 million and could have resulted in the building of a new bridge being put back in the Network Rail's regional bridge building programme.