UK: Network Rail will renew the waybeams carrying track across the 1903 Brotherton Bridge over the River Aire during a £800,000 bank holiday programme, while Taziker is already installing access scaffolding for the project.

Brotherton Railway Bridge crossing the River Aire in North Yorkshire
Brotherton Railway Bridge, whose steel superstructure dates from 1903. Illustrative photo.

The work is scheduled for 29–31 August. Network Rail says ageing sections of the bridge’s track-support system will be replaced with modern fibre-reinforced components, alongside repairs and repainting while scaffolding remains in place.

What is being replaced — and what remains undisclosed

Waybeams provide longitudinal support for rails across structures such as bridges. Network Rail has identified waybeam renewal as the core track-support intervention at Brotherton, but its project announcement does not specify the exact fibre-reinforced material, product, dimensions, quantity or manufacturer.

That distinction matters because Network Rail’s August 2025 contract register separately lists Sekisui Chemical under a contract titled “Supply of FFU Composite Longitudinal Bridge Beams,” with an end date of 31 May 2028. This confirms that FFU bridge beams are part of Network Rail’s supply base, but no project-specific source located for Brotherton links that contract, product or supplier to the August works. Railway Supply therefore does not identify the Brotherton components as FFU or attribute their supply to Sekisui.

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Taziker is delivering the access scaffolding

Taziker has publicly described Brotherton Viaduct as a project it is supporting for Network Rail. Its current site work includes installation of underslung scaffolding, scaffold erection on the west and east sides of the bridge, and protective netting.

That gives a clearer picture of the delivery sequence before the bank holiday possession: access infrastructure is being established in advance, while the waybeam renewal itself is scheduled for the three-day closure. The available evidence does not establish that Taziker is supplying the fibre-reinforced waybeams or that it holds the full £800,000 package.

A 1903 steel bridge remains in operational use

The crossing has carried trains over the River Aire since the mid-19th century. It was originally built as a Victorian tubular railway bridge, before the former superstructure was replaced in 1903 by the steel bridge still used by the railway today.

The bridge forms part of a larger viaduct complex with approach arches on both sides of the river. The August programme is not a full bridge replacement: it combines renewal of the rail-support system with repairs and repainting of the existing structure.

One closure will also renew 1.4 km of track at Sherburn

Network Rail will use the same 29–31 August closure to renew 1.4 km of track at Sherburn in Elmet. The infrastructure manager says combining the two programmes makes better use of the period when the railway is closed.

Northern and TransPennine Express services will be affected. Northern replacement buses are planned between Selby and York, York and Moorthorpe, and Selby and Micklefield. TransPennine Express will operate replacement buses between Selby and Leeds, while other services will run in shortened or diverted patterns.

The Brotherton intervention is therefore a defined waybeam and bridge-maintenance programme with access works already under way. What remains unpublished is equally relevant to suppliers: Network Rail has not disclosed the exact fibre-reinforced product, its quantity or the company supplying it for this bridge.

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