Carillion has completed a major engineering project to replace the Loughor Viaduct near Swansea as part of a wider £48 million scheme to redouble a key stretch of railway.

The operation to slide the new two-track and 235 metre-long structure into position was recently completed.

It completes work to remove a bottleneck caused by the old single line stretch and makes travel to and from West Wales far easier.

Jon Kite, Senior Project Manager with Carillion, said: "The challenge was to deliver a new 235m rail viaduct, constructed in an environmentally sensitive area over a fast flowing estuary with minimum disruption to the railway.

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"The new river substructure was constructed adjacent to and under the existing live railway whilst the new viaduct was being launched and constructed alongside.

"In a 249-hour possession we demolished the existing railway viaduct, constructed new abutments, slid the new one sideways into position and completed the permanent way works to connect to the track on the original alignment."

Carillion's replacement of the 104-year-old Loughor Viaduct was completed alongside work by Colas Rail and Morgan Sindall to redouble a 5.25-mile stretch on railway through Gowerton.

Both schemes were funded jointly by Network Rail and the Welsh Government in partnership with South West Wales Integrated Transport Consortium.

(CD)