Network Rail has successfully completed replacing a railway bridge at Wem in Shropshire.

Rail services between Shrewsbury and Crewe resumed on Wednesday, 29 December, and Mill Street and Barkers Green in the village have now reopened to road users. Network Rail has thanked the local community and passengers for their patience during the works.

The old bridge had been in place for over 100 years and had come to the end of its life. The £2.9m upgrade will enable the safe and efficient running of the railway for years to come.

On 26 December, the replacement bridge was driven into place using a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT). This is an innovative method that minimised the impact on the local community by only requiring a road closure at the adjacent roundabout for less than half an hour, whereas using a crane would have needed a much longer road closure.

Once the bridge had been manoeuvred into place, Network Rail engineers and contractors worked both night and day to backfill and compact the foundations for the new track bed, install new track panels and rail, and compress the ballast underneath the track.

Laura Townsend, scheme project manager at Network Rail said: “We would like to thank the local community and passengers for bearing with us over the past few weeks as we carried out this essential work.

“We know there is never an ideal time to carry out work of this type but replacing the bridge will help to ensure reliable journeys for rail passengers and road users for many more years to come and ensure that we will not have to close the road for emergency works in the future.”

Lee Robinson, Development Director Mid, North and Rural Wales at Transport for Wales, added: “Part of what makes our rail network unique is its history and heritage. This also means that parts of our network are old and need updating and modernising to meet the needs of our customers now and in the future.

“The upgrade to the bridge at Wem is a perfect example and thank you to all our customers who have been so understanding as this work was carried out.  May this upgrade work last another 100 years!”

Further work is planned to take place until mid-January to compress the ballast underneath the new track, and to remove the site compound from a field adjacent to the railway behind Hazport Ltd.