Barmouth Viaduct officially reopens after £30m restoration

A £30m restoration of Britain's longest wooden railway bridge has been completed after four years.

A plaque was unveiled on Friday to mark the end of the work on Barmouth Viaduct in Gwynedd.

The line reopened on 2 December after being closed for 13 weeks for the final stages of the project to be finished.

Built in 1867 by the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway, the Grade II* listed 770m (2526ft) structure is Wales' longest viaduct.

While the scheme began four years ago, the actual restoration process started in 2020.

But Network Rail's engineers found the bridge, which stretches across the Mawddach Estuary, was in far worse condition than expected.

Much of the timber had rotted and a lot of the metal had corroded.

This autumn, after strengthening supports and upgrading timber, the team moved two 160-tonne spans. Just one of the newly fabricated spans weighed as much as a blue whale.

Once near completion, work began to renew 297m (974ft) of track to ensure the safety of services crossing.

Network Rail's Nick Millington said: "We hope it will encourage more people to travel by train to see this beautiful part of Wales."

Wales Office minister Fay Jones called the bridge "iconic".