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London's 161-year-old Hungerford Bridge to be refurbished in project lasting almost four years

Hungerford Bridge, looking towards Charing Cross. NETWORK RAIL.

The refurbishment of one of the handful of bridges to take trains over the River Thames in central London is to start this weekend.

Network Rail is to start work on protecting Hungerford Bridge, which carries Southeastern services between Charing Cross and Waterloo East, on January 18.

Engineers will test the truss pins, which join the bridge supports together, replace pin end caps on girders, refurbish original metalwork and paint the bridge to help protect it for the future.

Hungerford Bridge is 161 years old, containing wrought iron lattice girders dating from 1864.

Work will take just under four years, finishing in late 2028. The first phase will focus on the southern end of the bridge over the next 12 months before the remaining spans are tackled.

David Davidson, Network Rail’s Kent Route Director, said: “Refurbishment of Hungerford Bridge will take three years, and we won’t need to close the bridge to trains during this first phase as we’ll be working at times that cause the least disruption to train services. This means we are carrying out some of our work during the night. ‘

"To avoid further disruption, we will also use barges to deliver and remove waste materials to Surrey Pier for the period of the works to avoid creating extra traffic and the resulting pollution. This will avoid the equivalent of six truck freight deliveries through central London a week.”



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