Network Rail, the national infrastructure agency for Great Britain, plans to replace the Castleton Bridge this Autumn. That is earlier than usual notice, but this engineering work in the northwest of England could be a huge imposition on the transport infrastructure of the entire region. Network Rail is investing more than twenty million pounds (over 23 million euros) in rebuilding the major railway bridge that takes trains over a highway vital to the entire North of England.
The Castleton Bridge carries a modest regional passenger service between Manchester, Rochdale and towns in the north of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is also the route most used by the unique biomass trains heading for the Drax power station complex. For that reason alone, the replacement of the life-expired bridge is critical to far more than just the railway network. The bridge crosses over the absolutely critical M62 road artery. That’s why Network Rail has put passengers, motorists, and freight operators on early notice of major civil engineering works in September this year.
Complete renewal of important structure
Network Rail has announced the replacement of the Castleton Bridge, just south of Rochdale. However, the announcement has come in the same week as the infrastructure agency has made public its extensive Easter weekend engineering programme. It might be important for anyone moving across the Pennines to check their schedules for Autumn and not mistake this for an inconvenience in early April. Make no mistake, though, it will take five months to get used to the idea that the busiest section of the busiest road in the North of England will strangled by a railway project.
Rochdale, Oldham, Shaw, and Chadderton may not be among the most fashionable communities in the north of England. They do, nevertheless, all have significant industrial infrastructure, and they all feed traffic onto one of the busiest highways in the UK – the M62 motorway and the multiple motorways that feed into it at junction 20. There’s a bridge over the motorway, just to the west of that junction, that most drivers will give little thought to, except perhaps if the graffiti significantly changes. However, that’s set to change next month when Network Rail, the infrastructure agency, undertakes a complete renewal of one of the least celebrated but most important structures on the network.
Motorway and rail closures
The railway infrastructure in the neighbourhood is not quite as extensive as it was in decades gone by. The north-south line is still in daily use for mixed traffic. Significantly, the line carries biomass trains from Liverpool, heading for the Drax power station complex in Yorkshire. This is a critical flow, serving base-load power generation for the UK. Fuel supplies to Drax are very much sacrosanct. Even during the catastrophic flooding of early 2020, trains kept running to Drax. Rerouting will be required during this engineering project. Passengers may find their journeys are best undertaken at another time.
Networks Rail is already persuading road and rail users to check before they travel in September. It seems counterintuitive to point out that while the replacement of a 42-metre long, 2000-tonne rail bridge will be disruptive to rail customers, it could be chaotic for road users. While rail may be capable of planned diversions (freight via Stalybridge and passengers rerouted to the Metrolink system), much of the road traffic that uses the M62 will struggle with diversionary routes. Network Rail say the work will ensure safe and reliable journeys for passengers and freight over this vital structure for years to come.
3000 freight movements annually
The bridge plays a crucial role in the national economy. It carries around 3000 rail freight services a year. “Castleton bridge is an essential part of the country’s freight network”, said David Hunter, Network Rail’s senior freight manager. “[It] is on a key freight route across the Pennines which links the west and east sides of the country. Heavy freight trains, which deliver aggregate products so the construction sector can keep building roads and houses, run over the bridge as well as several daily biomass services to Drax power station, which provide power to the national grid for electricity.”
To complete the work, engineers need to dismantle the old bridge and take it away on the M62. The new bridge materials will also be delivered by road and built on-site. That means the M62 will be closed over two weekends between Junction 18 and Junction 20 – the latter known locally as Simister Island and a daily pinch point for traffic congestion. Closures will be in force from the evening of Friday 6 – until early morning Monday 9 September, and also from the evening of Friday 20 – until early morning Monday 23 September.
Outside of the full road closure, the motorway will be reduced to three lanes (from six). There will be nightly closures to support the work to the base of the bridge. The railway will be closed 6-24 September between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale. Rail replacement buses will be in operation for passengers. Network Rail say that trains traversing Castleton Bridge carry fully six per cent of the UK’s entire energy supply in the form of biomass loads for Drax power station in Selby.