As work progressed at lightning speed to build the temporary rail station to serve the communities ‘cut off’ on the north side of the River Derwent in Workington, telecoms cables from the doomed Calva Bridge have been diverted over the unaffected railway bridge nearby.

Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s operations and customer services director, said: “This is just another example of how everyone pulls together in times of trouble. It is estimated that there were 1,000 telephone lines that could have been affected by the collapse or demolition of the Calva Bridge, but running a cable over our railway bridge should mean their uninterrupted use.”

The station itself is well on course to be completed by the weekend, allowing passengers to start using it on Monday (30th).

The southbound platform, which is constructed from scaffolding and wooden boards with a non-slip surface, will be completed today (Thursday), as will the car park.

The northbound platform and much of the footbridge are expected to be built overnight, and the entire structure could be finished late on Friday night or the early hours of Saturday. That will leave Network Rail the weekend to put the finishing touches to it and to tidy up the site ready for its first passengers.