Millions of rail journeys will be disrupted over the next two months by the closure of a key rail link in Oxfordshire due to a wobbly bridge.
The main line connecting the Midlands and northern England with the south coast is closed at Nuneham Viaduct. The bridge across the Thames a few miles south of Oxford needs emergency repairs because of “a lot of movement in the structure”.
The line linking Oxford with Didcot and Reading also serves commuter passengers from the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire to London.
A team of engineers from Network Rail spent the weekend examining the structure.
On the afternoon of Easter Monday, a spokesperson for the infrastructure provider said: “Network Rail has confirmed that it is now working to install a temporary structure that will stabilise the viaduct at Nuneham in Oxfordshire in order for trains to run again between Didcot Parkway and Oxford by 10 June.
“Engineers have been working round the clock since the line was closed for safety concerns on 4 April and are now able to confirm this timescale.
“To help keep passengers moving GWR, CrossCountry, Chiltern Railways and Network Rail, are working closely together with a revised timetable in operation for the duration of the line closure, with a rail replacement service and local shuttle services running.
“Freight trains will continue to operate on alternative rail routes, including via Acton in West London.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience this issue will cause as we work to make this viaduct safe for passenger and freight trains to run again.”
In a video made earlier, Nicky Hughes, communications director for Network Rail Western, said: “We’re really sorry for passengers and freight users that we’ve had to close this critical stretch of line between Didcot and Oxford.
“That’s because the bridge that you can see behind me is starting to move and it’s moving now to the extent that we don’t consider it safe to run trains over.
“We’ve been monitoring this bridge for a number of months now and we’ve been taking measures to try and make the foundations of the bridge more secure, but unfortunately, those measures don’t appear to be working. And of course, we’ve had some significant rainfall in the last month as well.
“In the last weekend, we’ve seen a lot of movement of the structure.
“Because the structure is not safe, we cannot run passenger and freight trains over it. That’s why we’ve had to close it.”
When the closure first happened, it put pressure on the alternative link from Oxford to London, which serves Marylebone station in the capital on a separate route through the Chilterns. Thousands of passengers who were planning to travel on GWR’s Oxford-Reading-London Paddington services switched to the Marylebone route.
This is now likely to continue until June.
For CrossCountry passengers, National Rail said: “Trains will be revised to run in two portions; between Bournemouth and Didcot Parkway and between Oxford and Manchester Piccadilly.
“Limited replacement road transport is in operation between Didcot Parkway and Oxford.
“Customers travelling between Bournemouth/Reading and Banbury/Birmingham/Manchester are advised to travel via London stations or Bristol stations. This is due to limited availability of road transport at Didcot Parkway.”
Journeys are likely to be extended by many miles and several hours.
Network Rail says it will provide more details of its plans on Wednesday 12 April.
