HS2 construction team get ready for mega steel bridge installation

Weighing 1,631t and measuring 112m in length, an assembled steel bridge will be manoeuvred into place during a series of nighttime operations starting on Friday August 15th.

Forming part of the HS2 construction works, the bridge will span Birmingham’s busy ring road at Lawley Middleway and is one of five viaducts that will bring high-speed trains into Curzon Street Station.

A skidding system, with a jacking push/pull mechanism, will be used alongside SPMTs to move the structure into place across the highway.

To minimise disruption to road users, the span will be moved around 12m every night, ensuring that the road remains open during the day.

HS2’s Head of Delivery for the Curzon Approaches, Greg Sugden said: “The team have worked hard to get us ready for yet another significant feat of engineering, marking a further step forward in the construction of the high-speed railway into Birmingham.

“The Curzon Approaches is a complex and challenging section, with the railway being carefully designed and constructed through an urban landscape and network of roads, railways and canals.”

Georgios Markakis, Project Manager at Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) said: “This operation is a first for BBV, combining SPMTs and a skidding system to lift, rotate and move this giant structure into place. Work is progressing well on this section of the Curzon Approaches, delivered by a team of more than 250 people, including steel welders, steel fixers, joiners and engineering apprentices.”

Severfield fabricated, supplied and installed the steelwork for the project.