HS2 moves new Church Road bridge into place in Birmingham - a major construction completed in just 5 hours

The 84-meter-long and 21-meter-wide new Aston Church Road bridge in Saltley has been moved across the existing Birmingham to Derby railroad line.

As high speed trains enter and exit Birmingham, it will also be positioned above the recently constructed HS2 tracks.

The bridge provides an upgraded, safer section of Aston Church Road including cycleways, which connects Saltley, Washwood Heath and Nechells in north-east Birmingham.

The work started at 10pm on Saturday and the bridge reached its final position at 3am on Sunday.

The operation was delivered by HS2’s main works contractor in the Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI, and its specialist bridge move contractor Mammoet, during a Network Rail blockade. The railway was handed back to Network Rail five hours earlier than planned.

It was built on land next to the existing railway and moved into position in one operation over one weekend.

Heavy lifting engineering experts Mammoet moved the bridge into place using two 128-wheeled self-propelled modular transporters across a matting bed put down over the tracks by Pod-Trak to provide a level surface.

Steve Powell, HS2’s head of delivery, said: “This is another great construction milestone for HS2 in the West Midlands, with our teams using the most innovative techniques to deliver feats of engineering safely and efficiently.

“It’s also a great example of how the new infrastructure we’re building for HS2 also upgrades the local road network, providing big improvements for local communities.”

In the coming weeks, all the other structures around the bridge, along with the steel assembly of the parapet panels, will be completed.

Over the next 14 months, the original Aston Church Road bridge will be demolished to create the extra space for the HS2 line to pass through, and works will get underway to connect the new bridge to the existing road network.

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