Bridge maintenance on the right tracks
Work required following‘deterioration’of bearings
Work to replace seized bearings on the Uddingston railway bridge which carries the West Coast railway line over the Clyde is expected to take place later this year.
Plans have been drawn up to replace the bearings on the grade-a listed bridge at Kylepark, built in the 1870s, in four phases over a two-year period.
Network Rail town planner Laura Mitchell in a supporting document lodged with South Lanarkshire planners explained: ‘The structure is about 140 years old and the existing damaged malfunctioning bearings were cast to meet the standards of the day.
‘The procedures and standards today have progressed to the point where the facilities for creating bearings from cast are no longer available, nor would cast bearings be robust enough to meet today’s standards.
‘Consequently new bearings are being proposed that are of a modern design, created using modern available processes/ materials and meet the current standards.
‘These bearings will be designed to accommodate the movement or articulation of the structure which is currently significantly compromised by the deterioration of the original system.
‘This compromise is evidenced by the failure of the existing bearings to allow the appropriate articulation which has led to their seizure and irreparable damage.
‘The bearings can only be viewed by those accessing the viaduct, exercising authorised access and consequently the change to the aesthetics will not be visible to others.
‘The exposed non-working edges of these bearings can be colour matched to the existing colour of the structure.
‘The bearings are currently being monitored. Their replacement will enable Network Rail to be confident about the functionality of the viaduct.’
An application for listed building work has been lodged with South Lanarkshire Council as the planning authority.
A Network Rail spokeswoman said this week: “Network Rail is currently seeking listed building consent to carry out strengthening works on category A listed Uddingston viaduct.
“When the appropriate permission is received a programme of works will be agreed which will be shared with the surrounding community. It is not anticipated that this work will impact on rail services.”
■ The original railway bridge was a three-span arched viaduct in cast iron. In the mid 1870s as the volume of railway traffic increased a more substantial viaduct was required.
The newer ‘Caledonian Railway Viaduct’ over the Clyde was built from May 1876 to October 1878 adjacent to the earlier one.
The previous viaduct’s superstructure was eventually demolished in 1966-67 down to the wrought iron arches and cylindrical piers and pillars which stand beside the existing viaduct.