Pier's railway work still on track despite weather

The railway line along a Victorian pier will reopen in May next year after a nine-month closure, according to Network Rail.

The infrastructure owner says the £19m work to Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight remains on schedule, despite recent bad weather.

The pier connects the 8.5-mile (13.7km) Island Line from Shanklin with ferries to and from Portsmouth.

The whole line closed for a month in September, when work to both track and trains was completed.

But the section along the pier will stay closed all winter, while large parts of the rusting metal structure are replaced.

George Murrell, renewals director for Network Rail's Wessex region, said: "We have delivered 23 of the 56 spans. Within each span, we are renewing the rail bearers, the sleepers and the rail.

"We have seen very, very challenging conditions with recent storms. But we have learned lessons from previous work, and progress has been good."

The line will have been closed for a total of two years out of the last four.

The whole route closed for 10 months in 2021 for complete refurbishment, including track and signalling, in preparation for replacement Class 484 trains.

The work had been scheduled to take three months.

The pier then closed for eight months in 2022-2023. Again, the work was planned to last only three months. Less than half the work was completed.

Network Rail promised this additional nine-month closure would complete the task and secure the 19th Century structure for another 60 years.

A shuttle bus is taking passengers between Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade station during the work, with trains operating as normal on the rest of the route.

Ryde Pier is the world's oldest pleasure pier, with construction starting in 1813.

It is really three separate 680-metre long piers, with the railway pier added in 1880.

A parallel tramway closed in 1969 and was rebuilt last year as a pedestrian walkway. The road pier was refurbished in 2011.

Unlike on the mainland, South Western Railway runs both track and trains on the island. But Network Rail remains responsible for the pier.

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