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A familiar landmark in Hapton will disappear at the end of the month when the old railway footbridge is demolished. And rail users in the village will have to take to the buses for a weekend as the track will be closed while a major engineering feat goes ahead further along the line.

The Hapton footbridge near the Manchester Road diversion has already been replaced by a new bridge by contractors working on the Burnley-to-Huncoat section of the M65. They are taking advantage of the closure of the line from midnight on Friday, October 29th, to 4 a.m. on Monday November 1st to demolish the old stone bridge. The railway line through Hapton will be closed that weekend to enable contractors on the Accrington Easterly bypass and British Rail engineers to carry out a spectacular stage of the bypass - motorway link by literally "sliding in" a new bridge. This involves digging out the embankment, removing the railway track and sliding in a new pre-stressed concrete bridge which is 30 metres long and weighs over 1,500 tons, to take the railway over the bypass. The track will then be replaced.
The new bridge is presently standing alongside the track about a mile outside Hapton and during the week is gradually being moved nearer towards it eventual site. The Accrington bypass joins the Calder Valley motorway just over the railway and is another link in the chain which, once the Shuttleworth Hall link road through Hapton is completed, will provide a direct route to the motorway from the Padiham bypass.
Engineers describe the moving of the bridge, which will be pushed into place using a special track using cables and jacks, as "a very tricky operation". British Rail is providing an alternative bus service for rail travellers that weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday, October 30th and 31st there will be a special bus service from Huncoat to Rosegrove, taking in Hapton, and running at the time of the normal train service.