Charing Cross station’s 160 year old railway bridge undergoes major refurbishment
The Hungerford railway bridge into Charing Cross station will be covered in scaffolding for much of the next few years as Network Rail carries out repairs to the 160 year old bridge.
Work is starting now and will last until winter 2028. The lengthy time is because, as it’s a live railway bridge, they can only work on small sections at a time.
In the first phase, Network Rail will erect scaffolding around the bridge and then enclose the scaffold. In May, they will start the main painting works on the bridge. They will then prepare and paint the bridge, test the truss pins and remove the caps at the end of the girders. The original metalwork will be retained and refurbished.
The refurbishment work will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will commence on the spans on the south bank and the south side of the river from January 2025 to January 2026.
The second phase of the works will be the main refurbishment works, which will take place on the remaining spans across the river from January 2026 to the end of winter 2028.
Although the bridge will be kept open during the repairs, the company has warned that some weekend closures might be needed from 2026 onwards.
The repairs are not currently expected to affect the pedestrian bridges that run alongside the railway.
David Davidson, Network Rail’s Kent Route director said: “Many of the bridges on Britain’s railway are from the Victorian era and being responsible for this national heritage is both a privilege and a challenge. Some of the structures are very old, so are vulnerable to corrosion and damage from weather.
“Refurbishment of Hungerford Bridge will take three years, and we won’t need to close the bridge to trains during this first phase as we’ll be working at times that cause the least disruption to train services. This means we are carrying out some of our work during the night.
“To avoid further disruption, we will also use barges to deliver and remove waste materials to Surrey Pier for the period of the works to avoid creating extra traffic and the resulting pollution. This will avoid the equivalent of six truck freight deliveries through central London a week.”
I always thought they were doing that when they built the new footbridges.
‘new’?
They were opened in 2002!
So even if they were repainted then surely it’s time they were repainted again?
Where’s ‘Surrey Pier’?