High winds push back re-opening of rail bridge

High winds over last weekend have again delayed work on the Stratton Street railway bridge.

It means more delays and the opening of the bridge in Biggleswade has now been pushed back to June.

A Central Beds Council spokesman confirmed this week that with wind speeds gusting up to 50mph on February 20/21, it was not safe to use the cranes brought in to lift the remaining sections of the bridge and, whilst some progress was made in carrying out ancillary works, 6 sections of the old bridge had to remain in place.

The effect of this weather event has delayed the current works programme by around a month, with re-opening of the road having to be pushed back into June.

Last weekend was a key date in the programme, as the council’s contractors had been granted a major possession of the railway line by Network Rail, and future possessions that have been agreed are of far shorter duration – at around two hours per weekend.

A spokesman said: “We are however, working with Network Rail to see whether there is any opportunity to agree longer possession periods and bring the programme back on track.

“We will provide an update here as soon as we know more.”