Doncaster Station bridge removal & replacement

[JD2168]

The bridge between Doncaster Station & the Wabtec building is to be replaced during the Christmas shutdown period.

A temporary platform has been built over the trails across from Platform 8 with a very large tracked crane being brung in along with a large mobile crane. The cranes can be seen below

 

[D365]

Are there any other tenants on the Wabtec site that would make use of this? I was under the impression that Wabtec is vacating the premesis.

 

[357]

Are there any other tenants on the Wabtec site that would make use of this? I was under the impression that Wabtec is vacating the premesis.

Whenever I use the bridge to access the goods lines there are people coming and going.

 

[Bob figgis]

The first span of the bridge from P8 is the official walkway into the west Yard. I was told by a Northern driver that this bit had to be done to retain foot access into the yard for their stabled units.

 

[E27007]

The first span of the bridge from P8 is the official walkway into the west Yard. I was told by a Northern driver that this bit had to be done to retain foot access into the yard for their stabled units.

There are fabricated sections near the Wabtec building, I assume the sections will assemble to provide a replacement bridge to provide a walkway from P8, at the Station end near P1 there is an unfinished structure which may be a cable gantry.
There are rumours of increasing station capacity with a plan for an extra platform to be built on the site of West Yard, fact or fiction?

 

[Adrian Barr]

I was at Doncaster station on the afternoon of 2nd December and saw a lorry arrive adjacent to the West Yard, loaded with wood for the temporary deck structure laid on ballast covering the rails in West Yard. I was confused as to what was happening!

I saw the crawler crane when I was there on Saturday; a very impressive beast. Apparently it's a Leibherr 1600 which can lift up to 600 tons. https://www.weldex.co.uk/equipment

The new and old footbridge are seen side by side on 23rd December: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanpadley/55002897928/ (Photo: Alan Padley)

The crawler crane from a different angle: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanpadley/55002899738/ (Photo: Alan Padley)

In addition to the Wabtec site, the footbridge also provided access to the aesthetically pleasing red-brick 2-storey railway offices seen in the pictures alongside West Yard (I've forgotten their name... something house?). In the early 2000s these were used by EWS for staff training, recruitment e.t.c. before being vacated. I'm not sure what if anything goes on there now. The upper rooms had a nice view of the goods lines and I always thought it would be a good place for a spectacularly big model railway running the length of the building if a few walls were knocked through. Alternatively I could live there in luxury, occupying the entire building (very convenient for the station and town centre) and use the space for endless bookshelves...

The Wabtec site is bounded by the railway and river on two sides, but new housing has already been built on parts of the old Doncaster Works bordering the Wabtec site, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens to the Wabtec site itself eventually.

There are rumours of increasing station capacity with a plan for an extra platform to be built on the site of West Yard, fact or fiction?

In an ideal world there would a couple of platforms where West Yard is, leading to a flyover across the main line to segregate Sheffield - Cleethorpes traffic from the ECML, but I think this was already discussed in another thread and there's no feasible way of doing it given the two road bridges over the railway north of the station. An extra platform on the site of West Yard might be useful (to allow trains from Sheffield to enter the station regardless of what is occupying 4 or 8) but I'm not sure that the business case would be compelling.

 

[Tracked]

Saw pictures of it being taken down yesterday, had a walk past this morning and couldn't see much from the north end - there was a little bit left of the original structure over platform 4 but obviously the station's closed today so couldn't get a better look.

 

[skyhigh]

Nice to see that the spotters are complaining about the new bridge abutments making photography difficult - when it was always restricted access to staff only so they should never have been up there in the first place.

 

[JD2168]

I was at Doncaster Station on 27/12/25 & managed to see the new bridge over platform 8. The 2 cranes were still there.

Pictures below