Shields Road bridge on track for completion

Wednesday 24 Jul 2024

Shields Road bridge on track for completion

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

One of Glasgow’s busiest bridges is on track to re-open to traffic next month. Network Rail and its contractor, Story Contracting are now in the final phase of a GBP12.6m project to replace the structure on Shields Road. The bridge had been subject to a weight restriction for 25 years prior to its demolition in Easter.

Since then, engineers have craned in the new bridge deck, installed new parapets (side walls) and put new overhead line equipment underneath the bridge. Ahead of its reopening next month, utilities such as gas, electricity and telecoms will be moved onto the bridge and the new road surface will be laid. Laura Craig, Network Rail’s project manager, said: “It’s fantastic to reach this stage in our work to rebuild the Shields Road bridge.

“Now that it’s in place, we’re reinstalling the gas, electricity and telecoms pipes and cabling before the new road surface is laid, ahead of the bridge reopening in late August. “We’re grateful to our neighbours and the local community for their patience whilst the road has been closed.” This multi-million-pound investment by Network Rail and Glasgow City Council will protect the railway, see the long-standing weight restriction on the road removed and extend its life for decades to come.

The newly installed bridge will have wider footpaths, higher and safer kerbs, and a dedicated two-way cycle lane.

Notes to Editors

Shields Road has been closed since 28 August 2023 to all traffic between St Andrew’s Drive and Scotland Street.
The bridge carries Shields Road over the City Union railway, which is used by freight trains and empty passenger trains travelling to and from depots. No passenger services were affected by the work. Network Rail has also strengthened an adjacent bridge over the railway on Shields Road to extend its life.
Network Rail and Story Contracting removed the existing road surface and diverted utilities such as gas, electricity and telecoms before demolishing the old bridge and rebuilding it.

A temporary footbridge opened in January 2024 to maintain pedestrian access.

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)