UK HS2 Completes Key Lifting for M42 Motorway Overbridge

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 21, the UK's High Speed 2 (HS2) railway completed the lifting of two key bridge structures above the M42 motorway in the West Midlands. The final span beam of the Water Orton Viaduct was lifted into place, marking the completion of all six large motorway-crossing spans at that location; about 3 miles away, near the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre, the "twin box" crossing structure also saw the installation of its final batch of beams. The M42 was closed for construction from the evening of September 18 to the early hours of September 21, and traffic was restored as planned at around 4 a.m. on September 21.

This round of construction was carried out by HS2's West Midlands construction partner Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV). The Water Orton Viaduct crosses the M42 and is one of the key structures on the HS2 main line as it enters the Birmingham area. With the installation of the final span now complete, the site will move into the construction of ancillary structures such as parapets. HS2 had previously used multiple weekend closure windows in July and August to advance lifting work on this viaduct, and the September closure corresponded to the final round of major crossing structure installation.

The M42 "twin box" structure advanced during the same period is approximately 300 meters long and consists of two boxes, designed to address the engineering conditions of the railway crossing the motorway at a skew. During the September construction period, approximately 150 workers installed the final 44 beams above the southbound carriageway, completing the top of the structure. A total of 175 beams were used for the entire structure, with individual beams weighing approximately 56 to 92 tonnes. Remaining concrete pouring will follow to create conditions for track laying.

The construction of these two structures is part of HS2's 2026 West Midlands motorway crossing program. HS2 has scheduled multiple rounds of M42 and M6 closures from June to November this year to complete three new railway-over-motorway structures. Among them, the first round of beam installation for the M42 twin-box was launched in June, construction on the Water Orton and M42 structures continued in July and August, and the final round of beam and span installation was completed in September. From October to November, ancillary works such as parapets on the Water Orton Viaduct will continue.