Bridge launched over London mainline railway

The second of three bridge structures for the new East London Line (ELL) extension project was launched during the first Bank Holiday weekend in May.

Known as G19, the 84m-long truss bridge will carry two lines of the new ELL over the railway lines out of Liver- pool Street Station and was entirely as- sembled in an adjacent goods yard.

The bridge was formed with 880t of steel and a further 140t for a temporary nose section which was removed once the structure was in its final position. The entire launch took two days and required two self-propelled modular transporters to support and move the structure.

“This bridge, because of its length had to be a truss and during design we had to include all the movement stresses associated with the launch,” said Richard Selby, Project Manager for steelwork contractor Fairfield Mabey.

Working on behalf of Balfour Beatty Carillion Joint Venture, Fairfield Mabey erected the first new ELL bridge over Shoreditch High Street in April, while the third steel bridge, in New Cross, was positioned during the second Bank Holiday weekend in May.