Chelmsford bridge demolition halts trains over Christmas

Generals Lane bridge in Boreham will be demolished between 25 and 29 December

No trains will run on a main railway line in Essex over Christmas due to a bridge being demolished.

Generals Lane bridge in Boreham, Chelmsford, is due to be demolished between 25 and 29 December.

No Greater Anglia services will run between Shenfield and Colchester during that time.

Rail replacement buses will operate between the two stops, and also between Braintree and Witham, and Marks Tey and Sudbury, on the 27-28 December.

The road bridge over the railway is being demolished in order to create a radial distributor road between Essex Regiment Way and the Boreham interchange, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A number of rail shutdowns will also be required over a number of weekends in 2022 to facilitate a new bridge being moved into place.

Construction of the new bridge is scheduled to take more than a year and is forecast to open in spring 2023.

The works are part of an infrastructure project associated with a new railway station at Beaulieu and a bypass to provide 9,000 new homes at the new Chelmsford Garden Community, Broomfield and Great Leighs while providing the potential for a further 5,000 new homes in the longer term.