Glasgow bridge demolition sees ?12.6 million project take a huge step forward

Friday 5 Apr 2024

Glasgow bridge demolition sees GBP12.6 million project take a huge step forward

Region & Route:Scotland's Railway: Scotland [1]

Network Rail has successfully demolished the bridge over the railway on Shields Road in Glasgow. Engineers worked around the clock over the Easter weekend to remove the overhead wires before bringing down the old, worn-out and weight restricted bridge using excavators, road-rail vehicles and a crane. Once work was completed, the overhead wires were reinstated to allow trains to run again first thing on Monday morning.

Rebuilding work has already begun, with piling set to begin shortly for the foundations needed to support the new structure. Work to install the new bridge deck will take place in two stages (7-10 June and 5-8 July). Working in conjunction with Glasgow City Council, completion of the project in August 2024 will see the long-standing weight restriction removed, with three lanes of traffic and a segregated cycle lane being built.

Laura Craig, Network Rail's project manager for the bridge work, said: "We're pleased that this significant milestone was completed successfully over the weekend. "The project's next phase has already begun with materials for the bridge rebuild being moved into position. "The footbridge has now re-opened as we look ahead to creating a bridge that will better serve the community."

Notes to Editors

Shields Road was closed to all vehicles between St Andrew's Drive and Scotland Street from 28 August 2023.

The road will reopen in August 2024 Since then, Network Rail and Story Contracting has diverted utilities, removed the road surface and installed a temporary footbridge for pedestrians. The existing bridge was demolished over Easter 2024.

The renewal of the bridge over the railway on Shields Road is a joint investment between Network Rail and Glasgow City Council which will allow the long-term road restrictions on Shields Road to be removed, and the bridge returned to full capacity.

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track [2], 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts [3] and the thousands of signals [4], level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations [5] while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies [6]. 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 [7], so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan [8], 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

^ Scotland's Railway: Scotland (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^ 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)