Shrewsbury's renovated Dana footbridge reopens after 11 months
A popular footbridge which links a residential suburb of Shrewsbury with the town centre has reopened today after nearly a year's renovation work.
The Dana Footbridge, which links Castlefields to the town and railway station, closed last December for works to be carried out.
Now Network Rail and Transport for Wales have thanked residents and station users for their patience as the latest phase of refurbishment work at the historic Shrewsbury station is completed.
Engineers completed extensive steel work repairs on the structure as well as repairing and replacing timber panels and supporting beans and brick work. Windows were also replaced on the grade II listed footbridge and the deck walkway has been renewed with an anti-slip surface and the structure has been repainted.
Network Rail teams have also been carrying out refurbishment work to the station canopies over platforms 4, 5, 6 and 7. Some final minor finishing works to the canopies will be completed in the coming weeks. The canopy work was part-funded by the Railway Heritage Trust.
Canopies
Chris Wildy, works delivery manager for Network Rail, Wales and Borders said: “We are delighted to have completed this work at Shrewsbury station which sees the historic station refreshed for the benefit of passengers and the local community.
“The station canopies and Dana footbridge are listed, so we worked very closely with our partners including Shropshire Council on our restoration plans, as we understand these structures are part of the historic fabric of the station.
“We would like to thank the local community, passengers and station staff for their patience and support while we completed this work.”
Colin Lea, customer experience director for Transport for Wales, added: “Shrewsbury is such a vital part of our network linking several different routes, while the station itself really is a beautiful, historic structure that we all want to see back to its best.
“This upgrade work by Network Rail follows a number of successful projects at Shrewsbury Station over recent years by a variety of partners and it’s great to see it getting so much focus.”
