WORK on three bridges over the railway in Royal Wootton Bassett will begin on time, Network Rail has said as the electrification project moves further west.

And they have sought to reassure residents that a temporary link road being built to save a diversion of more than 37 miles will not remain after the works are complete.

Almost 100 people packed into the Lime Kiln Leisure Centre last night within an hour of Network Rail opening the doors to the consultation event.

During the work they will be demolishing and rebuilding the Marlborough Road/Broad Town bridge and the A3102 Bath Road bridge to make them high enough for the new electric trains to pass beneath.

Work will also be carried out on the listed Hunts Mill Bridge where they will be building up the parapets to provide a barrier between drivers and the high voltage lines beneath.

They outlined that work on the Marlborough Road/Broad Town bridge was due to begin on March 6 and likely to last until September.

Work at Bath Road will begin on completion of this and likely to last until March 2017.

In the meantime a temporary link road has been built between the two bridges to save drivers being sent on a diversion of more than 30 miles.

Network Rail project manager Michael Jones revealed the demolition of the Marlborough Road bridge itself would take place over 52 hours over the first May bank holiday weekend, while the Bath Road bridge works would be completed over Christmas.

He said that construction of the link road has been a great success.

“It is a temporary structure, we were only granted authority to build it on a temporary basis," Mr Jones told the meeting.

“We have only built it to please local residents, to avoid a 37-mile diversion, and to keep traffic flowing through Wootton Bassett. When completed at Hunts Mill the road will be removed.”

At the consultation event was Lisa Farr, who co-founded the Marlborough Rd Bridge Facebook group with Emma Carter.

She said the group had been set up to ensure residents were up to speed with developments as not everyone had received the letters from Network Rail.

She added that the new temporary footpath being built was on the wrong side of the bridge for some residents meaning they would be up against very heavy traffic trying to cross over.

Resident Christine Hunt said that with the disruption facing residents in the town it would be nice if they were able to see the benefits of the new trains.

She said: “We would love a railway station back here. It has been gone a long time, but I think people would use it, especially to get into Swindon.”