Abbeyton Bridge demolition

[Marty82]

The demolition of this bridge on the line between Aberdeen and Dundee is taking place over the Christmas and Boxing Day period when no trains are running. It's amazing to thing it could cost the local council up to £3 million a day if the bridge was to fail and cause the rail line to be closed. I dread to think what the cost would be for a busy line in an urban area!

How is responsibility and therefore cost worked out on bridges over newly built lines? Say the road was there before the rail line was built? I take it all our Victorian lines had this worked out at the time of building: the railway company built the bridge and the local council or landowner maintained the bridge? Was a one off or ongoing payment made between the two? Is it the same case now?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-46647251

A deteriorating road bridge which it was feared could collapse onto the East Coast Main Line in Aberdeenshire has been demolished.

The Abbeyton road-over-rail bridge, on the B966 just north of Fordoun, was shut in July.

Inspections found serious failings in the 170-year-old structure.

Aberdeenshire Council said a specialist contractor was working alongside council engineers to dismantle it over Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The demolition was under way by about 02:00, and the main structure was gone by the middle of the morning.

The local authority previously warned an emergency closure could cost £1m to £3m a day.

However the council said the cost of the planned demolition was expected to be about £1m.
The line is due to be closed until Thursday morning, which it is hoped will be enough time for the work.

The cost of any proposed replacement bridge is likely to run into millions of pounds, and take several years to plan.

Here's a link to the bridge's location:

https://goo.gl/maps/cLELUowB4u12

 

[HaggisBotherer]

What I find most depressing in its inevitability is the statement "The cost of any proposed replacement bridge is likely to run into millions of pounds, and take several years to plan".

Frankly I can't see it ever being replaced (it doesn't have enough 'glamour' for the SNP to want to fund it as one of its classic vanity projects) and I really feel for the proprietors of the farm shop which is just along the B966 from the (now former) junction with the A90, who have seen their business nearly wiped out at a stroke. With the farm shop being on the former route of the A90, the closure of the bridge removed the ease with which one could nip in and out again. The diversion via Fordoun is such a schlep that a lot of people simply aren't bothering.

On top of all that, it's making the drive to Aberdeen rather more bothersome for quite a lot of people between there and Fettercairn, now having to divert via Laurencekirk.