Rail crash bill tops £500,000 - and rising
Cambridge Evening News: 10 August 2007
A HUGE operation to replace the rail bridge at Ely damaged by derailed EWS wagons has cost £500,000 so far.
A bird's eye view of the derailed wagons before the cranes moved in
Engineers working for Network Rail in Ely have had to build a 1.3km temporary road across marshland to allow a 1,000-tonne crane to remove 11 wagons left dangling over the River Great Ouse, along with the bridge itself.
The river, which has been closed since an EWS freight train derailed between Ely Dock Junction and Soham on June 22, was set to reopen this afternoon.
A spokeswoman for Network Rail, which is part funded by the Government, confirmed that £500,000 has been spent so far, mainly on building the temporary road from the A142.
But she said the final cost of the repair project could not be estimated until a design for the replacement bridge is finalised.
An inquiry into the cause of the crash by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch is still in progress.
The passenger rail route between Ely and Bury St Edmunds is expected to remain closed for another four months until the new bridge is in place, with a replacement bus service in operation.
Network Rail has worked with the Environment Agency to clear the Great Ouse of between 20,000 and 40,000 tonnes of building aggregate pitched into the river in the crash.
That means boaters attending the Inland Waterways Association festival in St Ives later this month will have a clear route, instead of having to negotiate the trickier New Bedford River.
Patrick Hallgate, Anglia route director for Network Rail, said:
"We're very happy that after several weeks of incredibly hard work by all involved, we're able to reopen the river. We thank local businesses for their patience and understanding whilst we deal with this difficult and complex incident. We are now focused on finalising the design of the new bridge and its construction. This is likely to take a number of months. We will have a more definitive timeframe once the design is complete.
"We appreciate, and share, rail passengers' frustration and are working to get the railway open as soon as we can. We promise to keep all those involved informed of the progress."
Network Rail says the river will not close when construction of the new bridge starts - a pontoon will be used like a swing bridge to transport equipment while allowing boats past.