Railway bridge repairs under way to link Gloucestershire canals

Network Rail is planning to complete the work in seven days

Major railway repair works are being carried out until 1 January to replace a railway bridge in Gloucestershire.

The new Ocean Bridge in Stonehouse, will be cast in concrete sections and lifted in by crane during the temporary closure of the railway.

It is part of a wider project to restore four miles of canal between Stonehouse and Saul Junction.

Network Rail project manager Deborah Elliot said it would allow Stroud and Stonehouse to become canal towns again.

To carry out the work a stretch of the canal close to the bridge will be sectioned off with portable dams and drained.

'Two years planning'

It will be refilled when the work is complete.

Ms Elliot said: "We have less trains that run at this time this year so we have an opportunity to take seven days and just do this in one go rather than spreading it out across a number of weekends.

"In our workforce we do have people who have given up their Christmas.

"Some of us get paid for it, some of us don't."

Train services between Gloucester and Bristol will be affected by the work from 27 until 31 December.

A bus replacement service will be put in place in the meantime.

"This is a project that we've been planning for over two years so we need to see it through to delivery and we're all quite proud to do that," she added.

The work is due to finish at 04:00 GMT on 1 January.