The well-loved Royal Border Bridge crosses the River Tweed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth and Network Rail engineers have taken on the huge and complex project to repair the 170-year-old structure in order to keep it in good working order for future generations.

So far the project has seen more than 2.5 million bricks stretching up to 40 metres in height with the full magnitude of the repair work needed being difficult to realise from the ground.

Further close inspection carried out by specialised engineers lead to them taking the opportunity to undertake even more repair work in order to aid efficiency and keep the bridge looking its best into the future. In order to complete the extra work, the project will now be ongoing until spring 2023. Work got underway at the beginning of 2022 and was initially just to repair the 28 arches of the stunning Grade I listed bridge.

The engineering teams working on the bridge have utilised an innovative rope access system in place of putting in extensive scaffolding across the bridge’s huge height and length which will save both time and millions of pounds.

The bridge is an essential route for both passenger and freight services travelling between England and Scotland on the East Coast Mainline.

Both industrial action and delay in the listed building consent have also led to the need to extend the vast project.

Ben Brooks, Portfolio Delivery Director for Network Rail said: “We’re making great progress so far on the Royal Border Bridge repairs, but we’ve spotted the opportunity to go even further.

“We’ll be carrying out additional repairs to bring the famous bridge back to its former glory, and it’ll mean that we won’t need to complete any major maintenance work on it for the next 30 years.

“Unfortunately, this does mean that we’ll be working until spring 2023. We’re continuing to work with our partners to minimise any disturbance to the community and the footpath will remain open throughout.”