Forth Rail Bridge faces summer shutdown for next 5 years

THE Forth Bridge faces being closed every summer for the next five years.

The bridge is shut this weekend for the first time since the 1930s to allow vital repairs to be carried out and will be closed every Saturday and Sunday for the next three weekends.

But Network Rail, which owns the bridge, has also made provisional arrangements to close the bridge every weekend in July next year.

And sources in the rail industry fear the bridge could be closed every summer until 2008 because there is no alternative way of carrying out the essential steel blasting and painting.

Network Rail is considering further closures because the work to be done this month will only be on a small part of the bridge.

The work is part of this year’s £11 million programme of maintenance and refurbishment for the world famous bridge.

ScotRail, GNER and Virgin trains that use the bridge are being replaced by buses or diverted via Stirling and Perth this weekend.

ScotRail, which will be the worst affected operator, was so concerned by the closure plans for this month that it hired consultants to check whether Network Rail was doing the right thing.

A ScotRail spokeswoman said: "We brought in consultants to validate what Network Rail was proposing and they came back and said that it was the way forward."

The bridge had to be closed to allow steel blasting and painting work at track level on a section of the structure. There will also be repairs and replacement of walkways and steel repairs.

It can only take place during the summer because of the need for more favourable weather conditions.

Weekend closures had been planned for June but were changed to July to avoid disruption for people going to last weekend’s Robbie Williams concerts at Murrayfield.

Jim Bellingham, acting director of Network Rail, said: "We are aiming to strip back and paint up to 1500 square metres of steel on the structure, working throughout the day and night where possible, to make the most of the access time we have when no trains will be running."

Up to 50 workers will work 24 hours a day at key points across the bridge.

The bridge is due to be closed each weekend in July from 12.30am on Saturday until 4.40am on Monday.

The rail infrastructure owner has already spent more than £10 million on the 1.5 mile-long bridge since a new seven-year contract began last April.

The contract includes removing old paint and replacing it - in the same unique Forth Bridge red colour - with a specialist paint designed to last at least 20 years.