Network Rail has thanked north Shropshire residents for their patience following a major upgrade of a railway bridge in Wem.

The completion of the work means Mill Street and Barkers Green reopened to road users on Wednesday, December 29, while rail services between Shrewsbury and Crewe also resumed.

The old bridge had been in place for 100 years and had come to the end of its life.

Network Rail said the upgrade will enable the railway to be safe and to run efficiently for a long time.

A self-propelled modular transporter was used to drive the brand-new bridge into place on Boxing Day. Once it was in place engineers from Network Rail installed new track and rail panels and laid new ballast below the track.

Laura Townsend, scheme project manager at Network Rail said: “We would like to thank the local community and passengers for bearing with us over the past few weeks as we carried out this essential work.

“We know there is never an ideal time to carry out work of this type but replacing the bridge will help to ensure reliable journeys for rail passengers and road users for many more years to come and ensure that we will not have to close the road for emergency works in the future.”