HS2 Construction Updates - Birmingham Area

[The Planner]

Surely this one needs lifting and spinning around for that to be true?

View attachment 157150

Its not being put over a railway, its also not going to be lifted very high at all.

 

[snowball]

Is that the one shown in post #1, the second video?

Yes it is. I watched that video at the time but I think I must have subsequently got that bridge mixed up with the other M42 crossing about five miles further south. The northern one is now visible on both Google satellite view and Streetview.

That's the one.
EDIT: I think this bridge and one under the WCML are the only major structures so far that have been built north of Delta

There's also the bridge under the Lichfield-Derby line, which was done immediately after the one under the WCML.

Does anyone know if work is actively progressing on the one under the A38 and slip roads at Streethay?

 

[Yindee8191]

They won't get picked up, they will be built on site and pushed over. The viaduct pushes are meant to be the back end of 2025.

Is this the big truss bridge over the Lichfield lines? I’ve been interested in how they’re going to do that since there doesn’t seem to be space anywhere to assemble it or any progress made so far.

 

[The Planner]

Is this the big truss bridge over the Lichfield lines? I’ve been interested in how they’re going to do that since there doesn’t seem to be space anywhere to assemble it or any progress made so far.

Both, the one at Landor St and the one over the Cross City

 

[chris2]

Is this the big truss bridge over the Lichfield lines? I’ve been interested in how they’re going to do that since there doesn’t seem to be space anywhere to assemble it or any progress made so far.

This is from HS2 website that shows the different parts of the approaches.


The four viaducts that fan out are built. Next, there are four weathered steel supports that support the canal crossing. These are in situ although mostly under cover. The larger piers approaching the truss bridge are built. The long weathered steel structure that sits on these is being built, but looks like it needs lifting and turning into position.

As for the truss bridge (Curzon no 2), I haven’t seen any sign of this yet but I expect @The Planner knows more.

This is a pretty up to date flyby…

 

[Yindee8191]

This is from HS2 website that shows the different parts of the approaches.

View attachment 157169
The four viaducts that fan out are built. Next, there are four weathered steel supports that support the canal crossing. These are in situ although mostly under cover. The larger piers approaching the truss bridge are built. The long weathered steel structure that sits on these is being built, but looks like it needs lifting and turning into position.

As for the truss bridge (Curzon no 2), I haven’t seen any sign of this yet but I expect @The Planner knows more.

This is a pretty up to date flyby…

Yeah for the truss bridge there’s notably no sign of it and (as far as I can tell) no space nearby big enough to assemble it fully. Unless they’re planning on doing it where the current weathering steel bridge is being built, but then surely they’d have wanted to do it before that bridge?

 

[Snow1964]

Yeah for the truss bridge there’s notably no sign of it and (as far as I can tell) no space nearby big enough to assemble it fully. Unless they’re planning on doing it where the current weathering steel bridge is being built, but then surely they’d have wanted to do it before that bridge?

It might be being pre-assembled elsewhere.

When the bridge near me was being built it was assembled in South Wales before being reassembled on site. (The considerably smaller A363 in Bradford-on Avon, which has whole thread).

Although in my mind that big steel structure looks like the bottom part of the truss bridge (that the deck will sit on), and it is missing the huge truss sides. Probably strong enough to be moved (able to support itself), but not in a position to carry any load without the sides.

If it was the part between the truss bridge and viaducts, would expect it to be wider one end, which doesn't appear to be.

 

[chris2]

If it was the part between the truss bridge and viaducts, would expect it to be wider one end, which doesn't appear to be.

I don’t think it’s the deck of the truss bridge but as you say the bit next to it, between the truss bridge and the canal. It may be that it’s just one half of it in fact. Perhaps that goes in first and then they build a second one that does fan out a bit as the tracks start to diverge.

Unless they’re planning on doing it where the current weathering steel bridge is being built, but then surely they’d have wanted to do it before that bridge?

Perhaps it will be assembled on the other side of the tracks? Thee does seem to be some work area adjacent where it could be constructed?

 

[stuving]

According to this from HS2 (see the Curzon Street thread):

First completed sections of HS2 Curzon Street station viaduct revealed

New images released of the first completed sections of the viaduct that will bring high speed trains into Birmingham’s new Curzon Street station View and download photos here

mediacentre.hs2.org.uk

...later this year, the construction of the span over Digbeth Canal will commence using jacks to slide 34 temporary steel girders, each measuring 38 metres long, below the four steel tripods to support the falsework and formwork, necessary for the deck construction.

The large arched span over Lawley Middleway is made from weathering steel girders, and is currently being built on the site. It will be moved into place over the road during a series of short night-time road closures in the summer. Building it in this way drastically cuts disruption to road users.

I find the idea of moving a really big lump of bridge to over a road in several small steps very odd - how do you stop with it halfway across? No doubt it will all become clear when they do it!

No word in there about the girder spanning the railway.

 

[Geogregor]

Yeah for the truss bridge there’s notably no sign of it and (as far as I can tell) no space nearby big enough to assemble it fully. Unless they’re planning on doing it where the current weathering steel bridge is being built, but then surely they’d have wanted to do it before that bridge?

There is also possibility of assembling the truss structure on top of the box girder viaduct, once that one is installed, and then simply sliding it along into final location over the railway tracks.

 

[chris2]

Thanks for posting that @stuving. So, piecing things together, the weathering steel structure is the deck that spans the Lawley Middleway. There’s a special need to construct this in one go because it spans a busy road which must be shut for the least amount of time possible. This might imply the other sections may be constructed differently, ie welded together in situ, hence why we don’t see any evidence of them yet? Although I guess same will apply to the truss bridge that it can’t shut the railway for weeks and weeks.

I find the idea of moving a really big lump of bridge to over a road in several small steps very odd - how do you stop with it halfway across?

I guess we will see!

 

[swt_passenger]

I find the idea of moving a really big lump of bridge to over a road in several small steps very odd - how do you stop with it halfway across? No doubt it will all become clear when they do it!

Is it just their way of describing the technique of using horizontal hydraulic jacks with a relatively short stroke, and repositioning the jacking point between moves? That‘s basically how they recently pushed a bridge span over the M42/M6 link roads, (post #150).

 

[chris2]

Is it just their way of describing the technique of using horizontal hydraulic jacks with a relatively short stroke, and repositioning the jacking point between moves? That‘s basically how they recently pushed a bridge span over the M42/M6 link roads, (post #150).

But can this structure be pushed in the same way as the M42/M6 link viaducts? The base appears to be an arch, and I’d have thought it would need to be flat in order to slide it?

 

[stuving]

Is it just their way of describing the technique of using horizontal hydraulic jacks with a relatively short stroke, and repositioning the jacking point between moves? That‘s basically how they recently pushed a bridge span over the M42/M6 link roads, (post #150).

It does say "moved into place over the road during a series of short night-time road closures".

 

[snowball]

What structure will carry HS2 over or under the existing railway in the vicinity of Viaduct Street, St James' Place and Northumberland Street? Is there any info about it?

 

[stuving]

What structure will carry HS2 over or under the existing railway in the vicinity of Viaduct Street, St James' Place and Northumberland Street? Is there any info about it?

That's the Curzon No. 2 viaduct - aka the truss bridge - see above (#185) or HS2's description:

A truss bridge is light but strong, composed of connected elements that form triangular units, and is economic to build because it’s constructed using a relatively small amount of material. This makes the truss form ideal to assemble offline and then launch from one end and in one piece across the existing railway viaduct below. A truss is the most efficient structural form for a “launching” process, and this is likely to be one of the largest bridge launches ever carried out in the UK.

The gently curved truss is 150-metres long and 25 metres tall. It will be assembled on the ground and then launched into its final position over the existing Victorian brick rail viaduct at around 17 metres above the ground, so the whole structure will be 40 metres high.