The iconic Southend Pier train is back up and running for passengers.
The service has been out of action for over 12 weeks whilst pile cap repairs took place, but re-opened to members of the public yesterday.
Cllr John Lamb, Leader of the Council, said: “This is excellent news, and I am delighted that following testing today and advice from our structural engineers, we are re-introducing our Pier train passenger service from Midday today. It will run at a slightly reduced speed and with a slightly reduced capacity to start with (90 passengers compared to usual 150).
“It was very disappointing to have to take the Pier train out of use, particularly during the summer season, but of course safety had to come first.
“However, we still welcomed over 50,000 visitors to the Pier during August and much of that was down to the hard work of our staff, who ensured that events, visiting ships and weddings have been able to go ahead with as little disruption as possible. We also did what we could to put alternative arrangements in place to get people with severe mobility issues from one end to the other, and I think that has been appreciated by visitors.
“It is only thanks to the regular condition surveys, monitoring and capital investment in its maintenance that these structural defects have come to light and I am grateful that we have been able to identify these issues and deal with them and now get the train back up and running again. I would like to thank the many thousands of visitors for their patience and support, and who came and used the walkways whilst the train was out of action.”
The service has been out of action for over 12 weeks whilst pile cap repairs took place, but re-opened to members of the public yesterday.
Cllr John Lamb, Leader of the Council, said: “This is excellent news, and I am delighted that following testing today and advice from our structural engineers, we are re-introducing our Pier train passenger service from Midday today. It will run at a slightly reduced speed and with a slightly reduced capacity to start with (90 passengers compared to usual 150).
“It was very disappointing to have to take the Pier train out of use, particularly during the summer season, but of course safety had to come first.
“However, we still welcomed over 50,000 visitors to the Pier during August and much of that was down to the hard work of our staff, who ensured that events, visiting ships and weddings have been able to go ahead with as little disruption as possible. We also did what we could to put alternative arrangements in place to get people with severe mobility issues from one end to the other, and I think that has been appreciated by visitors.
“It is only thanks to the regular condition surveys, monitoring and capital investment in its maintenance that these structural defects have come to light and I am grateful that we have been able to identify these issues and deal with them and now get the train back up and running again. I would like to thank the many thousands of visitors for their patience and support, and who came and used the walkways whilst the train was out of action.”
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