Camden road bridge reopens following major Network Rail replacement work
All roads have reopened on a new bridge deck installed over the railway in north London, nearly completing a GBP30 million repair of the railway bridge.
The 160-year-old structure at Agar Grove, Camden, was completely replaced over a nine-day railway closure in late 2024[1], allowing the railway to reopen. However, the structure still needed to be completed above to return it to a road as well. One lane of traffic was opened in February and the temporary footbridge was removed the following month.
The bridge deck's road surface was completed a couple of weeks ago, allowing it to fully reopen last week. Mark Budden, Network Rail route director, said: "The Agar Grove project was years in the making, meticulously planned at every stage and successfully carried out. "As we approach the home straight, it is important to reiterate how extremely grateful we are to the residents living nearby for their understanding as we carried out this crucial work."
The bridge deck replacement was started after the last train on the night of 20th December last year. Within days, the old structure had been demolished, and by 29th December the new beams, parapets and bridge deck had been erected. During this same tight timeframe, the railway track and overhead line equipment, which powers trains, was reinstated, allowing services to resume as planned on 30th December.
Network Rail teams made the most of the time when trains were not running to carry out 50 smaller tasks like vegetation management, track maintenance and renewing power cables.
A footpath route across the bridge from St Augustine's Road, Camden also reopened last week, with work to complete all remaining footpaths being finished in mid-June.