OREANDA-NEWS. Network Rail engineers are rebuilding a worn-out road bridge next to Shirley railway station in Solihull.

The bridge over the railway on Haslucks Green Road, a main bus route, is over 100 years old. 

If the bridge is not rebuilt buses will have to stop going over it - something Network Rail is keen to avoid.

Dom Mottram, scheme project manager, said: “We’re reconstructing the bridge at the end of Shirley station as it has come to the end of its working life. 

“There’s never an ideal time to do this kind of work but it has to be done."

Work requiring traffic management started on the 13 August and will continue until the end of September.

The road will be completely closed to traffic from Saturday 1 October until Friday 11 November as work takes place to replace the bridge. 

During this time motorists and cyclists will be diverted via another road route.

A temporary footbridge will be in place to ensure pedestrians have continued access across the railway. 

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.