Press Release

• Key milestone in construction of 91-metre-wide Carol Green rail bridge over West Coast Main Line.
• 83 beams weighing a total of more than 1,500 tonnes installed over 13 consecutive weekends.

Balfour Beatty VINCI has successfully installed 83 giant concrete beams for a 91-metre bridge designed to carry HS2 over the existing West Coast Main Line near Kenilworth.

Installed using a 500-tonne crawler crane, the horizontal beams collectively form the deck of the bridge structure that will eventually be used as part of the high-speed rail line.

Each beam measures 19 metres in length, with 81 beams weighing 18.1 tonnes and two beams weighing 33 tonnes – a total of 1,532.1 tonnes. The Carol Green rail bridge structure will, on completion, span over 20 metres, 7.5 metres in height and 91 metres in width.

Before the high-speed tracks are laid, the bridge will form part of a haul road for HS2 construction vehicles. It will connect the north and south side of the West Coast Main Line, providing a temporary route from the Aston Martin roundabout to Burton Green. This will reduce construction traffic through the Balsall Common road network and minimise disruption for local communities.

Once operational, the bridge structure and its embankments will take the new HS2 railway diagonally over the existing West Coast Main Line.

The successful operation was delivered by a team of 30 people over 13 consecutive weekends by Balfour Beatty VINCI. The pre-cast concrete bridge beams were manufactured in Ashfordby, Melton Mowbray, by a specialist civil and structural engineering partnership FTB JV – a joint venture formed of Freyssinet, Tierra Armada and Roger Bullivant.  

Shamus Banaghan, Senior Project Manager at Balfour Beatty VINCI, said: “Constructing a bridge over the West Coast Main Line is a complex operation and I’m incredibly proud of how my operations team and supply chain partners have responded to this challenge.

“Working tirelessly across 13 weekend night shifts, together we’ve successfully installed 83 pre-tensioned concrete beams over the existing rail track, forming the bridge deck. Now this phase of work is complete, the Carol Green underbridge is really starting to take shape.”

Jack King, HS2 Project Manager, said: “It takes an immense amount of skill and precision to carry out such a challenging feat of engineering and to construct these colossal structures. We’re proud to have reached this stage of the bridge’s completion ahead of schedule, which is testament to the entire team.

“Thank you to everyone involved onsite as we continue to pave the way for Britain’s new high-speed line.”

ENDS

All non-media related enquiries should be directed to +44 (0)20 7216 6800 or info@balfourbeatty.com  

Notes to editors: 

• Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group with over 26,000 employees driving the delivery of powerful new solutions, shaping thinking, creating skylines and inspiring a new generation of talent to be the change-makers of tomorrow. 
• We finance, develop, build, maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports national economies and deliver projects at the heart of local communities. 
• Over the last 114 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world. Currently, we are working to deliver Hinkley Point C, the first UK nuclear power station in a generation; constructing the world-class arts and cultural facility, the Lyric Theatre, in Hong Kong; and designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the Automated People Mover superstructure at the fifth busiest airport in the world, Los Angeles International Airport.