Work is to begin on a railway improvement project in Wales.

Engineers will start carrying out upgrades to the line between Cardiff Central station and Bristol Parkway from Saturday, 17 September.

The project, which is part of Network Rail's £40 billion Railway Upgrade Plan, will see a number of bridges levelled and rebuilt, new track installed and a new gantry erected.

Beresford Road Bridge in Cardiff and Bridge Street, Maesglas Road, Hawse Lane and Green Lane bridges in Newport will all be demolished and reconstructed to accommodate electrical equipment, ahead of the electrification of the South Wales Mainline. In Newport city centre, the new Bridge Street Road Bridge deck will be lifted by crane into position.


A new section of track and gantry will be installed as part of the Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal project in the Cardiff Central area.

Karl Gilmore, programme manager at Network Rail, said: "Reconstruction of the bridges is essential as we prepare the South Wales Mainline for electrification. Electrifying the railway will provide a faster, greener more reliable service for the thousands of passengers that use the railway every day.

"We have designed the programme of work to keep disruption to the local community to a minimum. However, at critical milestones during the project this vital work will be noisy, particularly the demolition work taking place this weekend and we would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding while we carry out this essential upgrade work."

(LM/MH)