FURIOUS villagers have accused Network Rail of ignoring ways to save a historic bridge from demolition.

The company is ploughing ahead with controversial plans to reduce a grade-II listed bridge in Steventon to rubble and build a modern concrete one in its place.

It insists the project, which will cause a 10-month road closure and cut off a main route into the village, is the only way to electrify the line.

Residents warn it would inflict traffic chaos and ‘devastate’ businesses, while Steventon Parish Council accused the company of neglecting other options.

Council chairman Chris Wilding said: “We have employed experts in Europe and they say there are alternatives...Network Rail claims to have documents to back up their claims, but has chosen not to share those.”

The company has submitted an application to Vale of White Horse District Council to replace the Brunel bridge in High Street.

It is among 29 bridges in Oxfordshire that must be modified for overhead wires as part of a £1bn electrification project.

The application said ‘ detailed analysis’ of five options had been completed, but Mr Wilding said none of this evidence had been submitted.

At a meeting at Steventon Village Hall on Tuesday, he said feasible alternatives could include jacking up the bridge, lowering the track, reducing train speed, or a mixture of these.

The parish council spent £6,000 on research to lobby Historic England, whose response will be vital in influencing the council’s decision.

Parish councillor Robert Green hoped the body would ‘strongly support’ the village.

His council colleague Dick Bosley noted housing developments had been rejected in the past purely because of proximity to the bridge.

But several villagers were concerned they were fighting a losing battle, with one resident claiming they were ‘doomed’ against the might of Network Rail.

Fellow villager Barry Capper added: “Network Rail is an amorphous organisation that has shown itself to be incapable of planning ahead. They seem to have ignored the implications.”

Network Rail proposed the bridge demolition two years ago, but fell silent after objections.

Kevin Murphy, who ran Steventon cafe Munchies at the time, said: “They have dragged it out and made us think it was not happening. They seem to have pulled the wool over our eyes.

"The closure could be devastating for business. It would turn the road into a cul de sac.”

Oxfordshire County Council owns the bridge but has not yet responded or submitted details of potential diversion routes.

Steventon was home to 1,500 villagers at the 2011 census. The parish council has recorded an average of 32,000 vehicle movements per week on the bridge.

On resident at the meeting warned the road closure would 'flood' neighbouring villages and 'grind Abingdon to an absolute halt'. 

A Network Rail spokesman said: "Replacing structures, like bridges, is technically challenging work and we don’t take decisions lightly, particularly as we are spending public money.

“We have explored all the available options and concluded that we will not be able to run high speed electric services underneath the current bridge safely on electric power. To do this we must, at some stage, replace this specific bridge."