The £1million footbridge at Welwyn Garden City station will now reopen in June. The Network Rail project is to be completed in the summer due to issues that were identified, along with severe weather and the social distancing measures which caused progress to halt.
Network Rail has been on site since November last year, carrying out work that will strengthen the footbridge. The footbridge links the town centre, the railway station, and East Welwyn Garden City. During this time, work has been carried out to repair as well as repaint the latticework, install new lighting and resurface the walkway.
The work was originally progressing well; however, during the repairs, over 100 defects were discovered. Before the work began Network Rail had carried out investigations, this is because old structures can be challenging to work on. This is usually due to the true condition of the bridge being hidden by paint and concrete and couldn't be seen until they removed it.
These issues meant that the bridge required more time to complete. To avoid more disruption to the community, the bridge has now reopened. The smaller details the project still requires will be completed through July.
This project will eventually include a lift installation and work on the stairs, which will help connect the town. This next phase is to be delivered by Wheat Quarter with support from other partners, and the work will follow into the summer.
The work which is to continue may need some changes to the bridge access overnight, the partners of the project are to make sure that residents and station users are informed of any changes in advance.
Any remaining work will not impact upon train services.
Paul Rutter, Route Director for Network Rail's East Coast Route, said:
“We are sorry that the footbridge at Welwyn Garden City station is reopening later than planned as we know how important it is for connecting the town and improving the passenger experience at the station. We are working as hard as we can to carry out the additional work needed, which will allow the footbridge to open to the public once more. This has been a challenging project, and we would like to thank all of those impacted for their patience.”
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And what about the new terminus bay platform at Stevenage. When is it due to be completed that will allow Class 717s from Moorgate via Hertford North to terminate at Stevenage and to use the new bay platform numbered as platform 5.