Posted 9th June 2023 | No Comments

Nuneham Viaduct reopens ahead of schedule

The Victorian railway viaduct which spans the Thames south of Oxford has reopened a day earlier than planned, after weeks of major reconstruction was completed.

Engineers have had to rebuild the south abutment of Nuneham Viaduct, which was built in 1856 and showed dangerous signs of movement in early April, closing the busy line between Oxford and Didcot Parkway. All through traffic had to stop, including 40 freight trains a day, which were diverted. Passengers had to use replacement buses, while Chiltern Railways services between Oxford and London via Bicester have been much busier.

The first passenger train across the bridge this morning was a shuttle service from Didcot Parkway to Oxford.

Network Rail said about 800 people have worked nearly 60,000 hours since the first week of April. In the past week, the 150-tonne bridge has been lowered on to the new abutment so that the tracks and cables could be reinstated.

The work has been described as complex and challenging, requiring some heavy engineering.

Twenty-four steel piles, each 15m long, were driven into the river bed, and another eight were driven up to 20m into the embankment.A 750-tonne crane was used and 4,500 tonnes of material was removed, to be replaced by another 5,500 tonnes for the new embankment.

The job isn’t quite over. Engineers will remain at the site for another 12 weeks to finish the work completely.

Network Rail capital delivery director Stuart Calvert said: ‘We’re extremely pleased to be able to reopen the railway through Nuneham ahead of schedule. 

‘A complex and challenging repair like this would normally take two to three years to complete, but thanks to the hard work and dedication of our talented teams of engineers, and industry experts, this major project has been turned around in just under ten weeks.

‘Once again, I would like to thank our passengers, freight customers, local community and our industry partners for their patience, understanding and support whilst we carried out this work, which will protect this important rail link for generations to come.’