SVR Bridgnorth bridge reopens after safety fears
A footbridge at Severn Valley Railway's Bridgnorth station has reopened after temporary repair work was completed.
The footbridge was closed on January 6 because of safety concerns.
Temporary repairs carried out by Shropshire Council contractor Ringway were completed on Friday, with another council contractor, Kier, now working on a permanent fix to be put in place later this year.
The closure came after staff from the SVR station notified police that the end of the footbridge, on the station side, had lifted up significantly and appeared to be hanging dangerously in mid-air.
Following the temporary repairs the footbridge will now be able to remain open during spring and summer.
It is planned that the council’s new maintenance contractor, Kier, will return in late October or early November to carry out permanent repairs.
Engineers will be working up an improved permanent solution to replace the holding down anchorage systems and tighten up the tension in the cables to the west tower, which have slackened following the failure of the holding down bolts.
A spokesman for Shropshire Council said that engineers will continue to monitor the footbridge regularly.
Gurnek Singh, Shropshire Council’s interim bridges and structures manager, said: "The holding down bolt anchorages to the west end bearing supports had completely failed. The exact cause of failure is still largely unknown, and engineers have been looking at as-built records and will be undertaking further analysis work, modelling and calculations to try to determine the cause of the failure.
"The eight holding down bolts fix the deck walkway in position and prevent it from moving excessively under live pedestrian loading. However, engineers looking at the mode of failure believe the bolt failure was caused by a combination of: salt laden de-icing salts, which have penetrated onto the tops of the bank supports and ‘eaten’ away at the high tensile steel bolts; cyclic fatigue failure due to pedestrian live loading; and contraction of the main cables and lattice steelwork caused by the recent prolonged cold temperatures.
"Engineers also suspect the problem has been ongoing for a number of years, but has remained hidden from view during routine bridge inspections due to the design detailing.”
