A 170-year-old railway bridge over the river Wye at Chepstow that connects England with South Wales is to receive a major £4.6m refurbishment as part of a wider package of work to secure the future of the line that runs alongside the Severn Estuary.
The bridge is Grade II listed and carries passenger and freight trains over the river Wye between South Wales and the West Country, Midlands, and north of England.
This work is part of a larger package of work that Network Rail is delivering on the line between Newport and Gloucester, with intensive resilience upgrades taking place near Lydney as part of the Severn Estuary Resilience Programme to prevent landslips.
During repairs to the bridge, engineers will carry out steelwork repairs, waterproofing, masonry repairs, and strengthen and reconstruct the bridge's abutments.
Chepstow bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1852. Although most of the structure has since been rebuilt, Brunel's original tubular supports are still in place. It is considered to be one of Brunel's major achievements, and was the basis of the design for Brunel's iconic Royal Albert Bridge that links Devon and Cornwall.
Work on the bridge is not expected to affect train services. To reduce noise disturbance for the local community, most of the will take place from 07:30 to 17:30, although on the following dates our engineers will need to work through the night:
- Wednesday 5 – Tuesday 11 April (inclusive)
- Friday 19 – Friday 26 May (inclusive)
- Friday 30 June – Thursday 27 July (inclusive)
- Wednesday 2 – Wednesday 30 August (inclusive)
- Tuesday 5 September – Monday 2 October (inclusive)
- Friday 6 October – Thursday 2 November (inclusive)
- Wednesday 8 November – Tuesday 5 December (inclusive)
-
Disused Beachley-Aust Severn Estuary car ferry underneath Chepstow bridge. // Credit: Network Rail.
Lee Ackerman, scheme project manager at Network Rail, said: “It's a privilege to be upgrading a historic piece of railway engineering. This bridge has played an important role in linking Wales and England for more than 150 years, and we plan on ensuring that it can continue to do that for many more to come.
“As always, we are aiming to complete this project as safely and as quickly as possible while keeping disruption to an absolute minimum.”
Would this level of care for our heritage occur were network rail a private equity concern? Thankfully they are not.