Key rail route is closed until June after viaduct movement

has been forced to close the railway line between Didcot Parkway and Oxford for at least two months after Nuneham Viaduct in Oxfordshire was declared unsafe for the continued operation of trains over it.

The route was closed to all rail traffic on April 3 after monitoring equipment detected increasingly significant movement of the structure.

NR said that the viaduct – which crosses the River Thames between Culham and Radley – has undergone regular inspections to monitor and assess its condition.

However, despite the company carrying out a low-intrusive ground stabilisation scheme in March 2023, this was unsuccessful, resulting in the closure of the line when the condition of the southern support of viaduct ‘rapidly and unexpectedly deteriorated’.

‘Challenging’

Network Rail is now set to replace the affected support, with work beginning almost immediately after the line was closed.

The reason for the sudden decline is unknown, with engineers stating that they will be a better position to assess the situation once the failed support has been removed. However, NR says that the work will be complex and challenging owing to the ground conditions at the site, including the proximity to the River Thames and the heavy clay soil in which the new support will need to be secured.

Network Rail’s capital delivery director, Stuart Calvert, said: “Our teams have been working 24/7 since the line has been closed to determine how best to repair the structure so we can run trains across the viaduct safely once again. We can now confirm that we are working towards a reopening date of Saturday, June 10, and will be replacing the old southern support structure.” The route over Nuneham Viaduct is a busy passenger and freight artery on the rail network. Its closure is causing considerable disruption to services, which have had to be replaced with rail replacement bus services between Didcot and Oxford, adding about 45 minutes onto journey times.

Passenger operators affected by the closure are Great Western Railway, Crosscountry and Chiltern Railways, which have all introduced revised timetables for the duration of the works.

Network Rail Major disruption to passenger and freight services is expected to continue until June 10 while Network Rail replaces the failed southern support pier on Nuneham Viaduct on the line between Didcot Parkway and Oxford. The condition of the support deteriorated rapidly in early April, forcing NR to close the route to all rail traffic until suitable repairs have been completed.

John Hales The classic lines of Locomotive Services Group’s 86101 Sir William A Stanier FRS are silhouetted as the locomotive heads south at Bay Horse with the Carlisle to London Euston leg of Steam Dreams’ ‘Settle and Carlisle Railway’ charter on March 25.