Life extension works on the railway track on Ryde Pier are progressing well and running to schedule, Island Echo can exclusively reveal.
It was back in 2022 that work to repair and preserve the historic structure first began, with works conducted on the pier intermittently in the months/years since then.
This latest project started back in September 2024 and saw the entirety of the line closed for a whole month before the section of track between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin was reopened back in October. Currently, a rail replacement minibus takes Island Line customers up and down Ryde Pier.
Described as ‘life extension’ works, a total of 590m of track is being renewed which sees the old rail bearers, sleepers and rail taken out before the structure is high-pressure washed ready for new bearers, sleepers and rail to be installed.
The steel columns and pillars below the pier are also being refurbished.
Contractors have braved the elements – including the worst that Storm Darragh had to throw at them – to keep works on track.
Parts that have been lifted from the pier are being donated to grateful recipients at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.
Speaking to Island Echo, renewals director for Network Rail’s Wessex region George Murrell has said:
“We are just under halfway through the 9-month blockade and works are progressing well and to plan. The conditions are tricky and their have been some delays but we have managed to make some of the time up by acting upon lessons that we learnt last time.
“In terms of handing back in May, we are confident that we are going to achieve that.
“We know that there will be some extra works that need to be delivered right at the end of the pier but we can’t deliver those now. This work may not need a closure to be enforced but we can’t be certain.
“We did a lot of work when we closed the line for a month earlier this year, so we don’t expect to come back and have any major closures anytime soon.”
When they said running on schedule I knew it wasn’t
Island Roads doing the work.
Lol
They recently overrun the works in Shanklin.