Kingsferry Bridge Closures Commence

The first of the Kingsferry Bridge closures commenced at 10pm last night (Friday 7th June) and will continue until 5am on Monday (10th June).

Network Rail will be providing a bus replacement for service between Sittingbourne and Sheerness on Sea (calling at all stations except 'Swale') throughout all the closures to enable repais to the road/rail bridge between the Isle of Sheppey and the mainland (here in Sittingbourne). 

This is the first of a series of closures over the next two months, with engineers confirming that the work was “progressing well” and issuing photographs of their work via X (formerly 'Twitter') - shown above.

40 steel ropes, which stabilise the bridge when it lifts and were installed in 1995, were found to have degraded and urgently need replacing following a recent inspection.

The next set of closures will last for nine days from Friday 28th June until Sunday 7th July with further closures from Friday 12th July until Monday 15th July. Another nine-day closure will take place from Friday 19th July until Sunday 28th  July. All closures start at 10pm on the first day and finish at 5am on the last. The last trains will depart Sheerness at about midnight on Fridays when it shuts and the first trains will run from approximately 5.43am on the days when the bridge re-opens.