Starting in 2003 the European Union has funded three consecutive research projects dealing with maintenance, life length, capacity and repair/strengthening of railway bridges.  The main results are that many bridges are capable of carrying increased loads and can have an increased service life if up to date technologies are used for assessment, monitoring, maintenance and strengthening.  

In order to obtain good value for the money spent in the projects, it is important to plan, coordinate and manage the projects in an efficient way. Long range projects of four years seem to be more effective than shorter projects of two and three years.