Services are to restart between Leicester and Peterborough on Wednesday 23 November, after the catastrophic bridge strike on Saturday 5 November.
The lorry strike of Foster’s Bridge in Ketton, Rutland caused extensive damage, leading to the closure of the line. Engineers have been working to carry out the immediate repairs and have made good progress.
Gary Walsh, East Midlands route director for Network Rail, said: “This has been a massive piece of work for our teams and I am pleased that the line between Leicester and Peterborough will fully reopen next Wednesday. The damage to the bridge at Ketton was substantial and we are very sorry for the impact this has caused.
“Our teams have worked hard to carry out these repairs as quickly as possible and I’d like to thank passengers and the local community for their patience. In the meantime, passengers should continue to check before they travel and drivers in the Oakham area should avoid the level crossings in the town wherever possible on Saturday.”
As engineers continue to make repairs, essential freight services need to travel in the ‘wrong direction’ through the town and over Foster’s Bridge, which is only operating one-way following the incident.
The line is one of only two routes for freight traffic between the Midlands and the port of Felixstowe – the other one is via London. Essential planned engineering work on the Crossrail route on this day means that freight traffic will need to travel via Oakham. The level crossing barriers in the town will be down for much longer than usual, and people should choose an alternative route wherever possible.
The A6121 Stamford Road, which runs underneath Foster’s Bridge, won’t fully reopen until the vehicle collision beam is reinstated. Weather permitting, this will happen on Saturday 19 November which will allow the road to reopen by 18:00 on Friday 25 November.
John Robson, regional director East Midlands and East Anglia for CrossCountry, said: “We are looking forward to being able to run our services as normal again and are delighted with how efficient Network Rail have been to be able to reinstate services following the substantial impact the damage to the bridge has caused. We would like to echo Network Rail thanks to the local community and our customers for their patience.”
