The Network Rail Project Manager has provided the Strathbungo Society with an update on the footbridge works and apologised for the delay. The construction programme will now extend until 19th February 2019 and the footbridge will remain closed until then.
What’s happened is that significant structural defects, which had been hidden by many years of debris/gunge etc, were revealed during the process of cleaning and steelwork preparation. Specifically, far more corrosion was found beneath the Durbar plate deck than predicted. The deck is double layered and it appears was simply over plated at some point in the past. Network Rail made allowances for the corrosion beneath the deck but not to anywhere near the extent they have uncovered. As a result they now need to remove and renew the entire deck.
The good thing is that corrosion has been caught before it got any worse.
Got to say I often wondered how safe it was as I skipped over it- a leap of faith! Looking forward to having it back tho