Date: 03/09/2017

Parts of a railway bridge have been moved into place by a 1,000-tonne crane in a bid to re-connect a rail line in the East Midlands. The bridge at Loughborough will allow the Great Central Railway to cross the Midland Mainline and link up with another heritage line from Ruddington. The £2.5m project will see the reinstatement of 500m of missing embankment, track and bridge. Two steel beams were put in place and the bridge decking will be added later. The original bridge was removed in the early 1980s as part of cutbacks to the railway network. When completed, the bridge will allow heritage rail lines on both sides to link up creating a new 18-mile (29km) route. The Great Central Railway runs from Leicester to Loughborough while the Great Central Railway Nottingham runs from south Nottinghamshire to northwest Leicestershire.

External links

Huge crane lifts rail beams into place

BBC News

A giant crane starts work on a new rail bridge that will reconnect two parts of a railway line divided in the 1980s.

Related images

Something I honestly never thought I would see in my lifetime - work starting on restoration of the bridge carrying the GCR over the MR at Loughborough. This is the North side of the MR.
Location: Loughborough
Company: London Extension (Great Central Railway)
03/08/2016 Ken Strachan

The south end of Loughborough (Midland) station in 2003. The line was crossed by a bridge of the Great Central Railway's London Extenson. It is planned that this bridge is replaced to allow the branch to Rushcliffe and Ruddington to be connected to today's Great Central Railway at what is presently the terminus of Loughborough Central.
Location: Loughborough Midland
Company: Midland Counties Railway
14/07/2003 Ewan Crawford