Sir, On September 6, we are to be cut off from Faringdon, Swindon and places north-west when Network Rail, a Government entity, takes “approximately” four months to put a higher railway bridge in place on the A417 at Challow.

Over a century-and-a-half ago, Isambard Kingdom Brunel floated each 139m span of the Saltash bridge into place, 30.5m above the River Tamar, in four hours, using sailing ships and men with semaphore flags.

I feel certain civil engineers today can replace a basic bridge span in less than four months. I assume Network Rail’s contractors will be working 24/7 to minimise disruption?

Network Rail seems intent on electrifying its railway line on the cheap, with ordinary citizens and businesses picking up part of the cost but none of the benefit. Jo Stalin would have been proud of them. Next time I want some building work done on the cheap I must remember to ask Network Rail for a subsidy, for that is what they are asking us to do for them.

Our elected representatives, local and national, seem impotent to avert this travesty.

Network Rail says a temporary footbridge will be provided. In my 37 years of using the A417, I have only ever see one pedestrian, a tramp, using it.

Since Network Rail have the space to construct a footbridge, why not instead provide a light-weight 2.5m-wide temporary road bridge, controlled by one-way traffic lights, to take cars and light vans?

Eurotunnel loads 150 cars on to its narrow shuttle trains in ten minutes, so I see no reason why the same cannot be achieved over a single 2.5m carriageway bridge at Challow.

This would remove 80 to 85 per cent of the traffic from the diversion and cost very little in terms of the overall project budget.

Dr R A Barnes

Brookside

Denchworth