After several weeks of disruption because of a bridge strike at Ketton in Rutland, passenger services between Leicester and Peterborough will resume next Wednesday 23rd November.
Foster's Bridge at Ketton was struck by a lorry on Saturday, 5th November. Since then, engineers have made good progress with repairing the bridge, and the line will reopen in both directions next Wednesday.
Until the line reopens, passengers should check their journey before travelling as buses are replacing all trains between Leicester and Peterborough via Melton Mowbray, and some rail replacement buses are also running between Melton Mowbray and Peterborough and between Stamford and Leicester. Train services between Birmingham and Leicester are running as normal and an hourly service between Peterborough and Cambridge has continued throughout the work, with some services running through to Stansted Airport.
Tomorrow, Saturday, 19th November, there will be severe disruption to vehicle users in Oakham because of delays at the town's level crossings. Whilst engineers continue to make repairs to Foster's Bridge, essential freight services are continuing to use it, but need to travel in the ‘wrong direction through the town and over the bridge as only one line is open following the incident. That means the trains will travel slower than normal, and take longer to clear the level crossings.
Since the incident, freight traffic between the Midlands and the port of Felixstowe has been diverted via London. However, essential engineering work is being carried out on the Crossrail route tomorrow, which means that the freight traffic will need to travel via Oakham and the town's level crossing barriers will be down for much longer than usual.
The road underneath Foster's Bridge, the A6121 Stamford Road, will remain closed until a vehicle collision beam is reinstated. Weather permitting, that will take place tomorrow, Saturday, 19th November, which will allow the road to reopen by 18:00 next Friday, 25th November.
Gary Walsh, East Midlands Route Director for Network Rail, said: “This has been a massive piece of work for our teams and I am pleased that the line between Leicester and Peterborough will fully reopen next Wednesday. The damage to the bridge at Ketton was substantial and we are very sorry for the impact this has caused.
“Our teams have worked hard to carry out these repairs as quickly as possible and I'd like to thank passengers and the local community for their patience. In the meantime, passengers should continue to check before they travel and drivers in the Oakham area should avoid the level crossings in the town wherever possible on Saturday.”
John Robson, Regional Director East Midlands and East Anglia for CrossCountry, said: “We are looking forward to being able to run our services as normal again and are delighted with how efficient Network Rail have been to be able to reinstate services following the substantial impact the damage to the bridge has caused. We would like to echo Network Rail's thanks to the local community and our customers for their patience.”
Be best to replace the whole bridge deck and replace it with a new one with better warning signs to let drivers driving heavy vehicles the height of the bridge and proceed with caution.
There was no shortage of warning signs. Have a look on Google Street View.