Aylesbury railway bridge reopens to traffic after strengthening work …

Tuesday 2 Jan 2024

Aylesbury railway bridge reopens to traffic after strengthening work completed

Region & Route: North West & Central ^[1]

Station Road in Buckinghamshire has fully reopened to motorists after repairs to a railway bridge were completed by Network Rail.

This morning (Tuesday 2 January) traffic resumed across Station Road bridge in Quainton after strengthening work was completed which involved filling the structure’s three arches with foamed concrete. This strengthening – which was part funded by HS2 - will remove the weight limit that was on the bridge, allowing it to stay open for all road users during planned HS2 road closures in the wider area which start in 2024.

As HS2 engineers prepare to rebuild a bridge on Fidlers Field Road and make space for the new high-speed line, Network Rail has worked with its contractor Amey and in partnership with HS2 and Buckinghamshire Council to carry out the repairs which will help keep local traffic flowing in 2024.

Neil Gaskin, project director for Network Rail’s Central route, said: “We’re really pleased to safely reopen Station Road bridge to motorists in Buckinghamshire and I’d like to thank local people for their patience while the bridge was closed. This vital strengthening work will help to keep traffic moving while our partners at HS2 continue construction of the new high-speed railway between London and Birmingham.”

Hugo Rebelo, HS2’s senior project manager, said: “Once complete, HS2 will almost halve journey times between London and Birmingham and free up space for more local services on the West Coast main line. But it’s also important that we reduce disruption for communities during construction. The work to Station Road bridge are a great example of what can be achieved by the effective collaboration and positive engagement between stakeholders, to reduce the length of road diversions and benefit the local communities. We will now proceed with the construction of the new and permanent road section at this location, which will, once completed, further improve road connections in the Quainton area.”

Iain Macpherson, Buckinghamshire councillor, said: “It's been both a privilege and a delight to chair this sizeable group of up to forty members, at times, since inception in August. The high level of motivation demonstrated by every member, even when confronted by some complex challenges, has been outstanding and the weekly meeting discipline has kept us on track. We set a year-end re-opening target and we've delivered. Well done to everyone.”

Once HS2 work is complete in the area and a new road bridge is open to motorists, Network Rail will return to Quainton to reinstate tracks between the station and Calvert. As part of this work, a new bridge at Station Road will be constructed to ensure the railway crossing remains safe and reliable for decades to come.

For more information about HS2, please visit www.hs2.org.uk ^[2]

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track ^[3], 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts ^[4] and the thousands of signals ^[5], level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations ^[6] while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies ^[7].

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway ^[8], so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan ^[9], to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

References

^{^} North West & Central (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^{^} www.hs2.org.uk (eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com)
^{^} track (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} bridges, tunnels and viaducts (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} signals (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} stations (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} train operating companies (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} a safe and reliable railway (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} @networkrail (twitter.com)
^{^} http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/ (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)