Nuneham Viaduct: Aerial video shows main rail line repair progress
A main rail line is on course to reopen on schedule after repairs to an unstable viaduct, Network Rail has said.
Nuneham Viaduct, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was shut on 3 April, blocking the well-used River Thames crossing.
It carried CrossCountry and Great Western Railway services, as well as freight trains to and from Southampton Docks.
Engineers said the instability was caused by the ground supporting the viaduct rather than the structure itself, and that the line should reopen on 10 June.
Stuart Calvert from Network Rail said: "It was a very porridgey-type material. We don't know exactly when that would have changed but it explains an awful lot about the problems we had."
An excavation of the supporting embankment has revealed wooden posts which were part of a previous viaduct built in 1856.
Engineers have so far driven steel piles 62ft (19m) deep into the riverbank.
They will form part of new supporting infrastructure, with the old viaduct laid on top.
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