Modular accessible station footbridge at Stowmarket

[Magdalia]

This story is on the BBC News website:

Stowmarket railway station to get country's first AVA bridge

The only way for passengers to cross the tracks at the moment is via stairs or level crossing.

www.bbc.co.uk

A Suffolk railway station will be the first in the country to have an accessible "AVA" bridge which will include fully-operational lifts at the site where there are currently none.
The new £5.5m footbridge with inbuilt lifts will be constructed at Stowmarket.
The only way to cross the platform without using stairs at present is via a level crossing.
Greater Anglia said funding for accessibility improvements at the station has been provided by the government's Access for All scheme, external.
The AVA footbridge is a modular design that includes large sections manufactured off-site, that can be put together on-site in relatively shorter timeframes, the rail firm said.
The existing concrete bridge will be removed and a temporary one installed over the weekend of 11-12 January, said Greater Anglia.
Built of stainless steel, it has been designed to be long-lasting and does not require painting.
Marek Dowejko, Greater Anglia's asset programme manager, said: "Thanks to this revolutionary new style of bridge the scheme was affordable, and we have been able to use the Access for All funding efficiently and to the best outcome for passengers.

Hopefully this will work well and be the first of many.

 

[zwk500]

I'm normally one of the realist/pessimist lot who expects rail to cost a lot, but seeing the claim that this 'revolutionary' new style of bridge (NR already have a standard modular bridge design, what was wrong with it?) is singularly responsible for making the scheme affordable, when the scheme cost £5.5m, is a little bit annoying.
For comparison, NR installing a footbridge with lifts at Horton-In-Ribblesdale station a few months ago cost £4.2m. https://www.networkrailmediacentre....ty-upgrade-at-horton-in-ribblesdale-station-1 https://www.networkrailmediacentre....for-picturesque-horton-in-ribblesdale-station (Somewhat annoyingly, the Press Release including the costs doesn't include a picture of the bridge, and vice versa). I also note that in this example the bridge design has been modified to fit in keeping with the station's retained historic features, but still seems very clearly to be the same design of modular structure NR have used up and down the country. Other stations have had the same (or an extremely similar design) installed with a roof (Dore & Totley, Ashley Down).

AVA appears to be a sleeker design and leaves slightly less dead space but I can't help thinking if the bridge is costing £1m more than the old design, is it really worth reinventing that particular wheel?

 

[fandroid]

Are they hoping that the modular design, with a lot of factory made components will show cost decreases over time?

I don't know how modular the current NR standard footbridge is. It looks to be mostly a site-based construction to a standardised design. I'd guess that mods to fit in with historic features are mostly simply different surface finishes.

 

[zwk500]

Are they hoping that the modular design, with a lot of factory made components will show cost decreases over time?

But isn't that the whole point of the existing design? It's all prefab and craned into place to be joined together very quickly.

I don't know how modular the current NR standard footbridge is. It looks to be mostly a site-based construction to a standardised design. I'd guess that mods to fit in with historic features are mostly simply different surface finishes.

It looks modular in the sense that it's a kit of different elements that can be swapped in and turned around fairly easily while still clipping together. The centre span appears to have a few variations of roof on/off, slight bow or signfiicant step up in the middle, and similarly you have a choice of ramps or steps that can be straight or turn 90/180 degrees at landings, and have at least 2 options for support with either a single pillar or a frame-type design.

Maybe it's not truly modular and is actually a couple of quite distinct designs, but comparing photos suggests if it's not modular it's certainly a fairly consistent design. As can be seen, there's a range of finishes available and the design can be integrated with lift towers easily enough. If AVA costs come down quickly as the rollout is scaled out and we get a swishier design for as much or less than the original, then fair enough. But I'm unconvinced at this point that a new round of design competition (because there were 5 of 6 other designs produced and assessed as part of this) was really justified when they could have got on with providing bridges over the railway.

Equally, it may be that AVA and the other designs such as Flow are all added to the overall catalogue, in which case having some choice for station design and competition among suppliers may be no bad thing.

Photo examples of recent NR bridge installs:

Wymington Footbridge - Crouch Waterfall

Client: AMCOProject Type: FRP Extension to Steel ParapetsWymington footbridge was identified as requiring parapet extension (in height). It is a standard LM type steel footbridge with 1.55m high steel parapets, lower than the required height (1.85m) or protection for the… Continue reading...

crouchwaterfall.co.uk

Aylesford Station Footbridge - Gallagher-Group

Although the county is a major commuter belt, many of the smaller stations across rural Kent are unstaffed. In the mid 2010s, train operating company Southeastern embarked on a major programme of works to replace 70 footbridges at across its network to improve passenger access and safety...

www.gallagher-group.co.uk

PHOTO THE FOOTBRIDGE AT HOLLINGBOURNE RAILWAY STATION THE LINE FROM OTFORD TO M | eBay

PHOTO THE FOOTBRIDGE AT HOLLINGBOURNE RAILWAY STATION THE LINE FROM OTFORD TO MAIDSTONE EAST WAS OPENED ON 1ST JUNE 1874 BY THE LONDON CHATHAM & DOVER RAILWAY. THERE ARE NO HOUSES NEARBY. PHOTO PAPER THICKNESS NORMAL PHOTOGRAPH THICKNESS.

www.ebay.co.uk

Footbridge to replace West Coast main line level crossing in Lancashire as part of route-wide safety commitment

A footbridge is to replace a footpath level crossing on a busy section of the West Coast main line where trains travel in excess of 100mph.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

A trio of southern bridges - Rail Engineer

Listen to this article Willingdon Tree, Oyster Pond and Cat’s Back – three delightful names, but what are they? The answer is they are all footbridges, recently installed on the network at Eastbourne, Newhaven and Wandsworth respectively. They all also presented their own challenges – a level...

www.railengineer.co.uk

The new Whitewall footbridge, Magor

Information for journalists, press, bloggers and the media about Network Rail. Contact the press office to receive news, updates, press releases, videos, pictures, and factsheets, and to arrange interviews, filming and photography

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Willingdon Tree Footbridge Replacement - England | Beaver Bridges

Read about the footbridge replacement we provided at Willingdon Tree. Have a question? Contact our helpful team for more information!

beaverbridges.co.uk

 

[eastdyke]

AVA video here with a bit more detail:

AVA Bridge | Innovative & Accessible Rail Footbridge

AVA's eco-friendly & cost-effective NextGen bridge & lift provides significant reductions in material and build time with offsite manufacture and minimum impact onsite during assembly.

www.avabridge.com

I haven't seen detailed/dimensioned drawings but the side safety screens near to the stairway tops seem to be too short.
A lot of the time saving seems to be down to delivery of completed units direct to site.

 

[Dr Hoo]

How is this different from the Modular Station footbridges built by Network Rail in 2008 at Mitcham Eastfields and Greenhithe (similar system for Corby but that doesn’t have a footbridge)?

 

[Meerkat]

AVA video here with a bit more detail:

AVA Bridge | Innovative & Accessible Rail Footbridge

AVA's eco-friendly & cost-effective NextGen bridge & lift provides significant reductions in material and build time with offsite manufacture and minimum impact onsite during assembly.

www.avabridge.com

I haven't seen detailed/dimensioned drawings but the side safety screens near to the stairway tops seem to be too short.
A lot of the time saving seems to be down to delivery of completed units direct to site.

And from the video using completed units means a very long low loader and a couple of big cranes - things that many stations dont really have the space and access routes for.

 

[jfowkes]

The old bridge at Stowmarket has been demolished and the new bridge is under construction. There is a temporary replacement bridge installed at the south end of the car park.

Unfortunately this means an extra 2-3 minutes of walking when changing trains. Trains from the Bury direction are timed with a 5 minute connection to the Norwich train. This means it's a fast walk between platforms even if the incoming service is on time. If it's delayed by a couple of minutes (as happened to me a few weeks ago), it's pretty much impossible to make the connection. Most of the passengers wanting to make that train were stuck in Stowmarket for an hour.

I make no comment on if the Norwich train can/should be re-timed to take account of this, I know how complex timetabling dependencies can be. Just to say that it is very annoying!