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Saturday 27 Dec 2025

It’s a cracker! Watch new railway bridge roll into place in West Dunbartonshire

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

A new railway bridge being built at a strategic development site in Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, successfully glided into position yesterday, marking a major moment in the site’s transformation.

Work by Network Rail began in the summer with the excavation of more than 80,000 tonnes of material to create space for the new structure. Once the site was cleared, engineers cast the bridge on location using 1,860 tonnes of concrete – the same weight as around 34 million mince pies!

With this first phase complete, train services through the area were paused on Christmas Eve for an intense nine-day engineering sprint. The highlight came on Boxing Day, when the structure was carefully driven into its final position. 

In the coming days, teams will focus on reinstatement – reconnecting track, signalling systems, and completing the work needed to safely reopen the railway on Friday, 2 January. 

The £5.9m bridge is a key element of the Glasgow City Region Deal, a major investment programme designed to improve transport links, unlock economic growth, and support sustainable development in the area.  

The new bridge will open up additional direct road access and enable the future development of the Bowling Strategic Development Site, led by West Dunbartonshire Council. 

Laura Craig, scheme project manager at Network Rail Scotland, said: “Everything we’ve done over the past few months has led up to this moment. Building such a huge bridge on site and then moving it into position is an incredible task, and it’s been amazing to see the planning and teamwork come together so successfully.

“The festive period has been an intense time, with work continuing day and night to make sure the move happened safely and on schedule. Driving the bridge into place on Boxing Day is a fantastic achievement and it’s thanks to the dedication of everyone involved.” 

Councillor David McBride, West Dunbartonshire Council’s Convener of Infrastructure, Regeneration and Economic Development, said: “This is a landmark moment in this major project and I am delighted to see such significant progress on the site.  

“While there has been some disruption on the trains, this has been minimised by the work being carried out over the festive period and I thank local people for their patience.” 

Train services between Dalmuir and Balloch/Helensburgh Central, and between Glasgow Queen Street and Crianlarich, will resume at the start of service on 2 January 2026.  

Passengers are encouraged to check with their train operator or nationalrail.co.uk before travelling and follow @NetworkRailSCOT on X for the latest updates.