The Bridge 27 renewal project is quickly coming over the horizon as the next big civil engineering project for the railway. The planning and design are well underway, with September 2024 being the current target date for the main bridge renewal with a three-week closure planned. However, changes will soon be visible in the area as we start the preliminary works.
NEWS
Tuesday 31st October
Now the civil week is over, the KWVR’s civil engineering team is focussing most of our efforts on the upcoming renewal of bridge 27. Works to further investigate the existing abutments and mystery culvert to the south of the structure were delayed in September as we did not receive the required permits in time; we were always pushing it to get on site in September. This work is now planned for the 5th to the 10th of November and will involve removing the track and exposing the culvert, along with establishing the location of the foundations of the cottages which used to be present where the track is now.
All work will be completed on days other than Sunday, when the track will be removed between 6 and 7 p.m.
Elsewhere, the approval of the principle design has been completed and will be finalised shortly. After that, the hard work begins to start engaging with contractors and getting all our plans in place for delivery in 2024. In the early new year, you will see changes in the area around bridge 26, with the yard lamps taken down as they will be in the way of the cranes and piling rigs, our overhead telegraph route will need diverting, and the gate into Wydean car park widened—lots to do before we even start building the new bridge.
We have also recently been reminded as to why we are going for the longer more expensive span with the railway inches away from flooding again during Storm Babet.
GALLERY
A selection of images featuring Bridge 27, including renewal during 1976, the floods from 2020 and upcoming designs.
