A £1.3 million road bridge upgrade project has been completed in North Lanarkshire.

The scheme, on Biggar Road in Cleland, was carried out by Network Rail and BAM Nuttall ahead of the Shotts line electrification project.

Features included raising the height of the parapets, demolishing the old brick side walls, and removing the bridge deck using a vacuum excavator.

A total 62m2 of concrete was used to install the new bridge surface with six tonnes of reinforcement, before 16 pre-cast concrete parapets were lifted into position using a 500-tonne crane.

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Overall, the work will allow overhead electrification cables to be installed safely under the bridge.

Iain McFarlane, Network Rail's head of programme management, said: "The electrification of central Scotland's railway is a genuinely transformational investment in our infrastructure that will lead to faster journeys on a new fleet of quieter, greener electric trains.

"While it is inevitable that this type of investment cannot be delivered without some disruption, Biggar Road bridge is another project completed on schedule in a challenging live railway environment, so credit is due to the Network Rail team and our contractors, BAM Nuttall, who have delivered this work to programme."

Network Rail is carrying out bridge replacements at 17 locations and increasing the height of 10 existing bridge parapets ahead of the electrification of the Shotts line as part of a major Scottish Government programme of investment to upgrade central Scotland's railway infrastructure.

(LM)