Gwen Alderly stood on the Thornhill Reach embankment at half past ten on Thursday morning and watched the Thornhill Star complete her final crew drill — a full-speed approach to the floating pontoon at Bramblegate Steps, reverse engines, and a clean mooring in what she later described as “textbook conditions.”
“We launch at six,” she said. “The crew is ready. The vessel is ready. The pontoon is ready. Tomorrow morning, people get to cross the river the way they should have been crossing it for the last twelve days.”
The March gales that had delayed crew drills since Monday moderated overnight Wednesday, as forecast. Thursday dawned grey but calm, with harbour winds at twelve knots — a fraction of Tuesday’s gusts that tore open the Bramblegate Market roof. Harbour Master Cornelius Ashby lifted the gale advisory at 7:00 AM.
The Thornhill Star, a 220-passenger vessel that will operate the primary service between Thornhill Reach and Bramblegate Steps at fifteen-minute intervals from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, completed three approach-and-mooring drills and two emergency-stop exercises during the morning session. The backup vessel, the Bramblegate Belle, remains at depot and will enter service if demand exceeds single-vessel capacity.
The Commuters
Monthly passes — twelve florins, representing a saving against the thirty-centime single fare for anyone crossing twice daily — went on sale at the Thornhill Reach ticket office and three Bramblegate vendors at 8:00 AM on Thursday. By noon, 340 had been sold.
“I’ve been adding forty minutes to my journey every day,” said Estelle Danforth, a bookkeeper who commutes from the Docklands to Upper Fernwich and was among the first to purchase a pass. “The viaduct is not designed for 14,000 people. The pavements are too narrow. The traffic backs up to Millgate. Tomorrow I take the ferry and I get my mornings back.”
The Fernwick Bridge, closed on 21 February after stress fractures were discovered in all four suspension cables, remains eight to twelve months from reopening. The 112-year-old iron bridge carried 14,000 crossings daily — a volume that the ferry, at 200 passengers per crossing and fifteen-minute headways, can accommodate approximately half of during peak hours.
Transport planners expect the ferry to absorb 6,000 to 8,000 daily crossings, with the remainder continuing to use the Coldharbour Viaduct and Lower Ashwater Footbridge. Peak-hour queues at Thornhill Reach are anticipated for the first week.
The Bridge
Chief Municipal Engineer Dorothea Kinnear, whose team ordered the bridge closure, confirmed Thursday that the tender process for full cable replacement will open next week. Three engineering firms — including Hallam & Stroud, which reinforced the Coldharbour Viaduct in 2019 — are expected to bid.
The estimated repair cost remains 55 to 65 million florins. Financing will be drawn from the municipal capital reserve, which stands at 142 million florins — the same reserve that has been partially drawn down for other emergency repairs, including the Bramblegate Market roof.
“The bridge will be repaired,” Kinnear said. “The question is not whether but when, and the answer depends on how quickly we can procure four new suspension cables of the required specification. The original cables were manufactured by a firm in Verlaine that no longer exists.”
For tomorrow, at least, the question is simpler. At 6:00 AM, the Thornhill Star will cast off from Thornhill Reach. Fifteen minutes later, she will touch at Bramblegate Steps. The river, for the first time in twelve days, will not be an obstacle.