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Next phase of major bridge works in Walsall begin

by Ian Shires on 25 January, 2016

 Published on Walsall Advertiser  |  Posted: January 23, 2016 By Dan Newbould

WORK to demolish the second half of a bridge in Walsall Town Centre has begun as investment into railways in the West Midlands continues.

The railway bridge, which forms part of Walsall High Street and is used by thousands of shoppers each day with dozens of trains running beneath it, needs replacing with a shallower version to free up headroom for overhead electrification lines that will be installed underneath.

The £78million electrification of the line between Birmingham New Street and Rugeley, which dates back to the 1930s, aims to provide passengers with improved journey times and make services more comfortable, reliable, quieter and greener as part of the national Railway Upgrade Plan.

Matt Brown, scheme project manager for Network Rail, said: “Technically this is relatively straightforward but logistically it’s the most complicated bridge I’ve ever had to deal with because it’s right in the middle of the town centre.

“We’ve made sure the key stakeholders are on board with the scheme. We’ve had a close relationship with the local authority and the traders to educate people as to what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”

After years of planning, the first phase of the work took place before Christmas with the demolition and replacement of half of the bridge on the station side over seven weeks.

The second phase started last weekend (Sunday, January 17) on the opposite side of the High Street with pedestrians still able to have access across the bridge and to the shops.

Mr Brown explained: “We’ll be installing protection underneath the bridge to shield the track and signalling infrastructure from any falling debris.

“We’ll use two 30-tonne machines which will start to split the beam from New Look to the centre into the middle. One by one, the beams will be lifted out and taken offsite and recycled.

“The new bridge is a traditional concrete deck and the beams will be craned in over about 10 hours next weekend and we’re expecting to finish by Easter.

“It’s been eye-opening. A lot of people don’t even know there’s a railway underneath because of the nature of the High Street.”

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