A new type of footbridge being installed at Stowmarket station in Suffolk is the first ‘AVA’ bridge in the UK, a modular design that is cheaper and quicker to construct and incorporates lifts to make all platforms fully accessible.
The modular design uses ‘plug-and-play’ lifts to cut the installation time by over half. It is constructed from stainless steel, which makes it long-lasting and eliminates the need for painting.
Currently, the only way step-free way to cross the platforms is via a nearby level crossing.
Funding for the £5.5 million project to make accessibility improvements at the station came from the Government’s Access for All scheme, which will also see the existing concrete footbridge removed.
In preparation for the new bridge, enabling works are now being carried out to the platforms in readiness for a temporary footbridge to be installed over the weekend of 11 January 2025, when the existing footbridge will be removed.
The installation coincides with the line being closed for engineering works; at other times, the station will remain open while the new bridge and lifts are being installed.
While the work is being carried out, some spaces in the car park will be used by the project available. The installation of the ‘AVA’ bridge is planned to be completed by the end of May 2025.
The ‘AVA’ bridge is part of the TIES Living Lab programme that was created by a consortium of Network Rail, Expedition Engineering, Hawkins\Brown, McNealy Brown, ARX and Walker Construction.
Funding for the programme was provided by Network Rail Research and Development and Innovate UK, and a prototype was constructed by McNealy Brown at their site in Sittingbourne in Kent.
Designed by ARX, the company behind the movable roofs at Wimbledon, the lifts are designed to be easier to install than traditional designs and provide built-in resilience and redundancy, to avoid going out of service.
In recent years, Greater Anglia has made accessibility improvements at number of station including at Kelvedon and the new Beaulieu Park station at Chelmsford in Essex.
“We want to give passengers better journeys and provide a railway that’s better value for money, and to do that we need fresh designs like this. We want a bridge that is open and light so passengers feel secure, a bridge that looks modern, that makes people feel they’re travelling on a modern railway, we want lifts to be more reliable, and our colleagues want a bridge that’s easy to maintain, that can be installed more quickly and less disruptively… and also doesn’t need painting every 25 years! That’s why we have AVA.”
Anthony Dewar, Network Rail’s head of buildings and architecture
Responses
It looks absolutely ghastly, and at a superb listed station too. The people that okayed this are idiots.
Nice to see that Stowmarket railway station is to have a new step-free footbridge with lifts. Other stations including Diss, Marks Tey and Hatfield Peveral also needs a new footbridge with lifts.
No they don’t need them. This is a rather expensive racket and other methods should be looked at first.
Ok.
Good to see it incorporates a roof over the footway. Perhaps you could also add awnings so people could shelter under the upper parts of the stairway for stations that do not have shelters?