Roads above and railway lines below Splott Road Bridge are closed due to a collapse of part of the Citadel building on the junction of Splott Road and Pearl Street.
Inksplott was made aware this afternoon of an incident near to Splott Road Bridge that had caused the closure of the railway line and immediately put in a call to the man managing the electrification project to see if he could shed any light.
Karl Gilmore, Programme Manager with Network Rail, told Inksplott that, earlier this afternoon, Network Rail workers heard a collapse from the demolition of the Citadel and went straight down to check the tracks. On finding rubble and debris on the tracks they called emergency services and stopped the next train to come along, following health and safety procedures.
At the request of the Fire Brigade, who were quickly on-site, all four train lines were closed and will remain closed pending the results of an assessment into the safety of the remaining Citadel structure. Currently, trains are unable to run between Cardiff (Central) and Newport.
It is also believed that Splott Road Bridge and surrounding streets are closed to traffic, through open to pedestrians.
The Citadel has been under demolition for the last few weeks. Network Rail originally suspected the building to be unsafe following early assessment of the area surrounding Splott Road Bridge last year (in preparation for the rebuild of the bridge) and made the property owner and council aware of their findings.
Neither Network Rail or its contractor, Carillion PLC, have been involved with the demolition of the Citadel. This has been undertaken by the property owner and contractor Young Demolition Contractors Cardiff.
More updates will be added as they come in…