Tenby station bridge works: constructability and access notes for civil engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Network Rail engineers have started installing sections of a new pedestrian bridge at Tenby railway station in Pembrokeshire as part of a major accessibility upgrade. The scheme is expected to deliver step-free access between platforms, likely involving new lifts and compliant ramp gradients to meet modern PRM-TSI and Building Regulations standards. For civil and structural teams, key issues will include working within the constrained historic station footprint, maintaining rail operations during possession windows, and managing foundations close to existing track and platform structures.
Technical Brief
- Construction is sequenced under rail possession regimes, constraining heavy lifting and hot works to tightly controlled windows.
- Temporary works must maintain safe egress routes from both platforms at all times during bridge installation.
- Lift shaft and stair core foundations are being formed immediately adjacent to live track, driving stringent exclusion zones and plant slew restrictions.
- Interface management with existing platform edges and coping stones is critical to avoid creating new trip or stepping hazards.
- Lessons on segregated work zones, passenger wayfinding during phased closures, and emergency access routing are directly transferable to similar brownfield station upgrades.
Our Take
Network Rail features frequently in recent Infrastructure and Safety coverage in our database, including near-miss incidents investigated by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, which suggests that visible upgrades like the Tenby railway station bridge are being delivered in parallel with a tighter focus on workforce and passenger protection.
The same period has seen Network Rail dealing with geotechnical and structural issues such as sinkholes on a bridge near Purley and commissioning £40M of Eastern Region Assessment Contracts with Amey, indicating that localised renewals at Tenby sit within a wider national push to get ahead of ageing-asset risks.
With Ramboll and other consultants now on the UK government’s £3.5bn CPS 2 framework, which lists Network Rail as a key client, future phases of work at smaller stations like Tenby in Pembrokeshire are likely to draw more on centralised design and assurance capacity rather than purely route-level engineering teams.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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