In a five-hour operation on August 10, the team building the UK’s HS2 high-speed railway slid a steel and concrete motorway bridge weighing more than 1,700 tonnes over four existing tracks in the North East Birmingham.
The contractor for this stretch of track, Balfour Beatty VINCI, engaged heavy haulage specialist Mammoet to roll the 276ft long, 69ft wide bridge on two 128-wheel self-propelled modular transporters. The contractor temporarily covered the tracks with fill covered with aluminum sheets to form tracks for the carriers.
Designed for the contractor by Mott MacDonald and Systra, the concrete deck of the composite bridge was cast over steel girders in a permanent glass-reinforced plastic formwork. It was completed on a 97,000 square meter stacked platform near its final position.
The new structure will replace the existing adjacent brick arch bridge, which is too short to allow for the new high-speed tracks below.
