HS2 completes bridge lift milestones

The construction of HS2 has celebrated two beam lifts - for a road bridge in Buckinghamshire and a bridge over the West Coast Main Line in Kenilworth.

A 91-metre bridge designed to carry HS2 over the existing West Coast Main Line near Kenilworth is taking shape, following the successful installation of 83 giant concrete beams.

Installed using a 500-tonne crawler crane, the horizontal beams collectively form the deck of the bridge structure that will eventually be used as part of the high-speed rail line.

Each beam measures 19 metres in length, with 81 beams weighing 18.1 tonnes and two beams weighing 33 tonnes – a total of 1,532.1 tonnes. 

The Carol Green rail bridge structure will, on completion, span more than 20 metres, 7.5 metres in height and 91 metres in width.

Before the high-speed tracks are laid, the bridge will form part of a haul road for HS2 construction vehicles. 

It will connect the north and south side of the West Coast Main Line, providing a temporary route from the Aston Martin roundabout to Burton Green. 

This will reduce construction traffic through the Balsall Common road network and minimise disruption for local communities.

Once operational, the bridge structure and its embankments will take the new HS2 railway diagonally over the existing West Coast Main Line.

The successful operation was delivered by a team of 30 people over 13 consecutive weekends by HS2’s construction partner Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV). 

The pre-cast concrete bridge beams were manufactured in Ashfordby, Melton Mowbray, by a specialist civil and structural engineering partnership FTB JV – a joint venture formed of Freyssinet, Tierra Armada and Roger Bullivant.  

The final phase of construction sees the installation of parapet walls and acoustic barriers, as well as backfilling and landscaping – with full completion expected in autumn 2025.

Meanwhile the replacement of a key local road bridge in Buckinghamshire has taken a major step forward after HS2 engineers lifted nine massive steel beams that will form the main structure of the new bridge.

Stretching for 112 metres, the bridge will carry Edgcott Road across the new high-speed railway and an existing freight line, which runs parallel for five miles between the Bucks Railway Centre near Quainton and the village of Calvert.

It is one of 24 HS2 bridges and other structures which are being built wide enough for both sets of tracks to run side by side.

Replacing the old, smaller bridge, will allow the currently disused railway to be brought back into use in the future.

The new bridge is being built by HS2 main works contractor, EKFB - a team made up of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall - working with Eiffage Metal, Osprey and Allerton Steel.

They used a 650-tonne crawler crane to lift the steel beams into position, with the operation being completed over the last month.

Made of ‘weathering steel’, the beams are a naturally russet brown colour and were welded together on site to form the main span of the bridge which was lifted in six large sections.

Two 6.8-metre-high concrete piers and abutments on either side will support the steel beams which weigh a total of 610 tonnes. A reinforced concrete deck will then sit on top to support the road, which carries local traffic between Quainton and Calvert.