Clients

Client: Birse Rail.

Location: Conwy.

Description of work: Conwy Tubular Railway Bridge (Underbridge No. 110), which carries the North Wales coast railway line across the River Conwy between Llandudno Junction and the town of Conwy, was built by Robert Stephenson in 1848. The superstructure is formed from two wrought iron tubular box girders which carry the railway lines, with masonry castellated abutments that compliment the adjacent Conwy castle. An assessment in 1899-1900 showed that the tubes were theoretically overstressed under loadings from the heaviest locomotives running at the time, and this entailed the construction of additional piers at each end of the tubes at points of the span.

Kaymac Marine & Civil Engineering Ltd was commissioned by Birse Rail to carry out works to remove two existing inspection gantries from the Conwy tubular railway bridge. The gantries were deemed redundant by Network Rail and require removal from both tubes. Conway Tubular Bridge is a listed structure set within a SSSI area.

The works were carried out within the programmed period, and within the project budget.