Coombe Railway Bridge replacement delayed (From Surrey Comet)

Coombe Railway Bridge replacement delayed

10:02am Thursday 7th August 2008 in News By David Lindsell

Building work on Coombe Railway Bridge has been postponed following the discovery of a Victorian water main which feeds much of south London.

The first phase of work to strengthen the bridge’s supports ahead of its replacement is nearly complete but Thames Water stepped in to halt the project.

The existing bridge was due to be removed and a new one lifted into place over the weekend of August 23-25 – but this has now been postponed to next year at the earliest.

Network Rail hopes to finish the work to strengthen the bridge's supports and reopen the roads by Saturday August 30.

A letter from Network Rail will land on the doormats of residents and business today apologising for the delay.

In the letter Nick Gray, Network Rail’s community relations manager for London and south east, states: "Protecting this water main from damage has been a priority for the engineering team in planning this project and we have been in discussions with Thames Water for some time.

"It doesn't impress me at all. It is so frustrating for people like us. Now we are going to have to wait until whenever. I just hope my new and existing customers will come back."

Richard Liew

"However, with detailed engineering plans now completed, Thames Water has decided that the risk to the water main is too great to allow the works to proceed as planned.

"The amount of re-engineering that would be required to address the risk to the water pipe, along with the requirements that Thames Water are imposing, render it impossible to carry out the replacement of the bridge in the immediate future."

A spokesman for Thames Water said: "It has only just come to light that we need to have a different solution.

"If it breaks, most catastrophically the whole area will be out of water and we can't risk that. The road and the bridge would be washed away."

Richard Liew of Lime Leaves restaurant on Coombe Road said he had been told about the news by a customer on Saturday.

"What I can't understand is why all these technical people didn't pick this up before," he said.

"It doesn't impress me at all. It is so frustrating for people like us. Now we are going to have to wait until whenever. I just hope my new and existing customers will come back."

Kingston Council said it would press for an explanation and compensation for traders hit by the delay. In a statement it said: "It is deeply disappointing for local residents and businesses to think that the end of this project was so clearly in sight and yet now, after this decision to postpone the whole scheme, they have to contemplate it all happening again in the future."