£500k needed for next stage of Great Central Reunification
THE GREAT Central Railway has launched a £500,000 appeal to fund the next stage of its ambitious Reunification project.
In a recent change of plan, the railway intends to build a new viaduct to link the restored bridge over the Grand Union Canal with the new bridge over the Midland Main Line. This will replace the previous plan to reinstate the former embankment between the canal bridge and Railway Terrace road, which would have been bridged – along with the adjacent Precis Spark factory car park – by the ‘Factory Flyover’, using two bridge decks salvaged from the remodelling of Reading station. These will now no longer form part of the Reunification project.
GCR general manager Malcolm Holmes explained: “The urban viaduct is expected to be simpler, faster and cheaper to build, and will feature two spans – one to cross a culvert and another to cross Railway Terrace Road.”
The planning application for the new viaduct will be submitted in the next few months. Holmes added: “When we have planning consent, we’ll need to spend around half a million pounds taking the design documents and turning them into construction and engineering blueprints. We’re starting an appeal for that process, which in turn means we can keep the powder dry on our building fund. We can’t wait to get building again and we know people around the world are watching, so we hope the new plans inspire them to support us. The more money we raise, the sooner we can build again and the more we can achieve.”
Donations can be made online at www.gcrailway.co.uk/unify or via post with a cheque made payable to ‘David Clarke Railway Trust’ marked ‘Reunification’ on the back. Cheques can be sent to Lovatt House, 3 Wharncliffe Road, Loughborough, LE11 1SL.
● Read more about the Reunification project on pages 70-78