Central Bridge in Southampton to close for a year for repairs (From This is Hampshire)

So Councillor Dean says that the council will do everything to minimise the impact... Could he please be more explicit please?

As two major routes will be condensed down into two,it follows that there will be a considerable impact on those two remaining routes. The road past the College is hardly calculated to inspire with any ability to absorb additional traffic, and the road outside Ocean Village constitutes a major hold-up already! Will the council dramiatically rephase the lights which cause much of the existing problem, or will hads go firmly in sand?

My suspicion is that the statement that the coucil will do everything is no more than words, with little or no action to back them up. Given Southampton's creaking infrastructure , certainly in respect of the road system, this is one further nightmare I dread...

Have the Echo got the right bridge..??
this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars.
Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway?
Why a year?
Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day
deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

The sign at the bridge states roadworks for 54 weeks!

Jammy Donut wrote:
Have the Echo got the right bridge..?? this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars. Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway? Why a year? Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

It is Network Rail who are doing the work so it is, in theory at least, not at taxpayer expense... however as an organisation, they are hardly renowned for speed and efficiency, certainly in "backwater" projects like this. It would be different perhaps if it was a main line where Rail revenues were affected, but this probably costs them nothing in lost revenue, so the work will be done in the cheapest least time efficient manner possible. Had of course it been a major revenue earner, the disruption would be minimal, perhaps by lifting a new bridge in over a weekend or two...

And yes is the railway bridge, the line is about 200ft to the right, out of view. And it is very rarely used, and then, from observation, mainly for imported/exported cars.

It is nice of Mr O'Brien to thank everyone for their patience, but frankly what choice do any of us have? Ours is but to sit in interminable traffic queues wasting our lives, and petrol...whilst Network Rail and the council offer their sympathy but nothing else!

Jammy Donut wrote:
Have the Echo got the right bridge..??
this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars.
Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway?
Why a year?
Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day
deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

Central bridge has more than one span. Maybe it would not have been a good idea to get the Echo snapper to stand on the railway line, so he did the road span instead.
Yes, the docks line is still used for freight, isn't it?
When the Railway first arrived at Southampton this was a level crossing, the bridge was built later. I will have to do some research and see if I can find out how long it took to build originally - probably less than a year.

With St Cross Road into Winchester closed, Leigh Road, Eastleigh and now this. Perhaps some more closures can be put in place on other main routes in southern Hampshire to cause absolute chaos!

The railway is used about 3-4 times a week iirc. I have stood on the bridge and watched the cars on the train come in. Still quite nice to see trains doing heavy loads like that, brings out the boy in me LOL!
.
Bigmac - I think some scallies have stolen the hyphen from the sign and messed with it, as I was sure it read "4-5 weeks" last week when my bus went past. :-o
.
I could be disklegsick though ;-)

Family Man, Bitterne says...
5:47pm Tue 9 Feb 10

So Councillor Dean says that the council will do everything to minimise the impact... Could he please be more explicit please?

Perhaps he will allow motorists to use the itchen bridge for nothing to ease the conjestion.....but i doubt it.

RE: About is the line still used... yes normally on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exporting and importing cars... though SCC have safe guarded the land at the Canute Road level crossing behind the advertising boards to build a railway station there for when ocean village is, if ever, finally finished...

http://www.southampt
on.gov.uk/s-environm
ent/policy/localplan
review/planreview-te
xtinweb/chapter10/pa
rk-ride/waterfront.a
spx

Zeo wrote:
RE: About is the line still used... yes normally on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exporting and importing cars... though SCC have safe guarded the land at the Canute Road level crossing behind the advertising boards to build a railway station there for when ocean village is, if ever, finally finished... http://www.southampt on.gov.uk/s-environm ent/policy/localplan review/planreview-te xtinweb/chapter10/pa rk-ride/waterfront.a spx

It would be good to have a station, even if a halt, there on match days

Zeo I know you're a railfan. How about two "new" routes for Hampshire - 1) Ludgershall - Andover -Stockbridge-Romsey C'Ford- Eastleigh -Southampton Terminus and 2) Hythe - Totton - Soton Cent. - Winchester - Alresford - Alton.
I know it will never happen but if those routes had never closed they would both be profitable today linking a whole series of short journeys together.

X Old Bill wrote:

Jammy Donut wrote:
Have the Echo got the right bridge..??
this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars.
Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway?
Why a year?
Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day
deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

Central bridge has more than one span. Maybe it would not have been a good idea to get the Echo snapper to stand on the railway line, so he did the road span instead.
Yes, the docks line is still used for freight, isn't it?
When the Railway first arrived at Southampton this was a level crossing, the bridge was built later. I will have to do some research and see if I can find out how long it took to build originally - probably less than a year.

Since one of my hobbies is old railways of Hampshire (and others), my bookcase behind me has a plethora of information, unfortunately it takes a while to reference. My best shot at the moment is that the Central Bridge was opened in July 1882 and thus enabled the level crossings at Bridge Road and Marsh Lane to be closed.
My reference is "Southampton's Railways" by Bert Moody.
Hope that helps.

Family Man wrote:

Jammy Donut wrote:
Have the Echo got the right bridge..?? this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars. Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway? Why a year? Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

It is Network Rail who are doing the work so it is, in theory at least, not at taxpayer expense... however as an organisation, they are hardly renowned for speed and efficiency, certainly in "backwater" projects like this. It would be different perhaps if it was a main line where Rail revenues were affected, but this probably costs them nothing in lost revenue, so the work will be done in the cheapest least time efficient manner possible. Had of course it been a major revenue earner, the disruption would be minimal, perhaps by lifting a new bridge in over a weekend or two...

And yes is the railway bridge, the line is about 200ft to the right, out of view. And it is very rarely used, and then, from observation, mainly for imported/exported cars.

It is nice of Mr O'Brien to thank everyone for their patience, but frankly what choice do any of us have? Ours is but to sit in interminable traffic queues wasting our lives, and petrol...whilst Network Rail and the council offer their sympathy but nothing else!

Not renowned for speed and efficiency..hmmn

They got one in Boscombe done on time

essexman wrote:

Family Man wrote:

Jammy Donut wrote: Have the Echo got the right bridge..?? this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars. Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway? Why a year? Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

It is Network Rail who are doing the work so it is, in theory at least, not at taxpayer expense... however as an organisation, they are hardly renowned for speed and efficiency, certainly in "backwater" projects like this. It would be different perhaps if it was a main line where Rail revenues were affected, but this probably costs them nothing in lost revenue, so the work will be done in the cheapest least time efficient manner possible. Had of course it been a major revenue earner, the disruption would be minimal, perhaps by lifting a new bridge in over a weekend or two... And yes is the railway bridge, the line is about 200ft to the right, out of view. And it is very rarely used, and then, from observation, mainly for imported/exported cars. It is nice of Mr O'Brien to thank everyone for their patience, but frankly what choice do any of us have? Ours is but to sit in interminable traffic queues wasting our lives, and petrol...whilst Network Rail and the council offer their sympathy but nothing else!

Not renowned for speed and efficiency..hmmn They got one in Boscombe done on time

I made the point that this is a backwater project with little or no revenue loss. They are very efficient when it comes to main line works where there is considerable revenue loss, and where the actual bridge has sometimes been put in place over a weekend due to highly organised preparation work.

I do not think that Central Bridge will be dealt with in any way expeditiously. As somebody said, two men and a wheelbarrow...6 hours a day..

downfader wrote:
The railway is used about 3-4 times a week iirc. I have stood on the bridge and watched the cars on the train come in. Still quite nice to see trains doing heavy loads like that, brings out the boy in me LOL!
.
Bigmac - I think some scallies have stolen the hyphen from the sign and messed with it, as I was sure it read "4-5 weeks" last week when my bus went past. :-o
.
I could be disklegsick though ;-)

The intro to the story states commuters face a year of misery... but there again, they may be referring to some other surprise?!

This is not new news. We live in Captains Place which backs onto both the railway line and the bridge. The letter in January from the contractors states the bridge, both road and footpaths will be totally closed for the whole duration. The works will be 07.30 to 1700 Mon - Fri and 12 times in the year Sundays 08.00 - 04.00 Monday. The trains run pretty much every day, sometimes 6-8 times per day into the docks, mainly with cars.
The works are going to be horrible for the residents and commuters alike!

I Couldn't agree more, many of these railways which have been lost should never of been lost... fine the villages inbetween were not great of profit but these missing links are vital to be relinked up, I have seen number of reports over past 5 years that Mid-Hants have been cheered on to go on to Whinchester - fine a new bridge on M3 and buying the houses on the cutting is a long term project and will cost millions but the end result would be worth it... take the bluebell railway, it will be connecting 2 towns back up in the not too distant future but serves little villages on it's main line... Also the Lavander Line wants to bridge the connection at Uckfield to Lewes, though was sadly declined because Network Railway wants to keep it clear 'IF' they want to reopen it as a mainline railway... there is so many people that want these connection relinked and heritage railways are offering to do that but Goverment and Network Rail are saying NO!!! I can not wait for the ATOC to release the finale report on the Hythe Railway | Ringwood Railway and Bordon Railway, this will show that railways are more important now then cars and road transport.

Whats the alternative? the bridge falls down?

Is it a coincidence or a strategy that road works like this, over a considerable period of time, will make people consider rail travel over driving their cars!?!? It's a win/win for the rail network! But I bet no-one at the council has thought to review the plans for the work that is taking place and question its validity!?

I thought that the whole point of a complete closure was so that works could be completed in a much faster time? 54 weeks with a complete closure seems extreme, and yes, you could easily rebuild the bridge in less time, but this is Britain, and everything has to take forever and cost the world.

Indeed, if you want to know how long it takes to rebuild a road over railway bridge, you only have to look at the bridge near St Denys which was rebuilt recently. That certainly didn't take 54 weeks, just a Christmas and New Year.

Basically, the reason why Central Bridge will require an excessive 54 week closure to strengthen is because delaying motorists is not seen as being much of an issue. No doubt if the bridge passed over the busy mainline rather than a lightly used freight branch then Network Rail would get the job done much faster, to minimise disruption to the rail network. Forget the road network, that's not Network Rail's problem.

B. L. wrote:

X Old Bill wrote:

Jammy Donut wrote:
Have the Echo got the right bridge..??
this does not seem to have a railway track but parked cars.
Is this spur line actually used anymore anyway?
Why a year?
Is it another two men with a wheelbarrow working 4 hours a day
deal, to save money at the inconvenience of thousands of ratepayers

Central bridge has more than one span. Maybe it would not have been a good idea to get the Echo snapper to stand on the railway line, so he did the road span instead.
Yes, the docks line is still used for freight, isn't it?
When the Railway first arrived at Southampton this was a level crossing, the bridge was built later. I will have to do some research and see if I can find out how long it took to build originally - probably less than a year.

Since one of my hobbies is old railways of Hampshire (and others), my bookcase behind me has a plethora of information, unfortunately it takes a while to reference. My best shot at the moment is that the Central Bridge was opened in July 1882 and thus enabled the level crossings at Bridge Road and Marsh Lane to be closed.
My reference is "Southampton's Railways" by Bert Moody.
Hope that helps.

Thank you!
Yes, real books - my favourite source material, certainly beats Wrongipedia.

There is a cast iron sign facing the road on a wall of the Central bridge, easily visible from the pavement. I trust it will still be in place after the repair work. The sign says:

THIS BRIDGE WAS ERECTED BY THE LONDON & SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY CO. IN PURSUANCE OF AN AGREEMENT WITH THE CORPORATION UNDER THE POWERS OF THE SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY ACT OF 1880, AND WAS OPENED TO THE PUBLIC JULY 1882.
THE HON. RALPH DUTTON
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMPANY
WILLIAM JACOMB
CHIEF ENGINEER
CONTRACTORS MESSRS BULL & SON & THE HORSELEY COMPANYLD. TIPTON.
W.H. DAVIS
MAYOR OF SOUTHAMPTON
EDWARD BANCE
CHAIRMAN OF THE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE.

They knew how to do things properly in those days. No doubt the opening ceremony was quite an event!