Network Rail has completed the delivery of two 42-metre beams ahead of a multi-million-pound bridge build.
The delivery, captured by drone footage, shows the beams being delivered to a site along the M62 in Castleton, near Rochdale. Network Rail is investing over £22 million to rebuild a major railway bridge that carries services over the motorway.
The two 42-metre, 70-tonne “VIBs” (“Very Important Beams”), were delivered during an overnight closure of the motorway, and can be seen in the footage being transported along the deserted westbound carriageway.
The 42-metre, 2000-tonne bridge will be constructed over two weekends in September, with the M62 set for its first-ever weekend-long closure to facilitate the project. The first stage will see engineers dismantle the old bridge, before installing the new one.
The bridge, known as Castleton Bridge, carries 6% of the UK’s energy supply across the country, with 3000 freight services a year carrying material to and from Drax power station in Selby.
David Hunter, Network Rail’s senior freight manager, said: “Castleton bridge is an essential part of the country’s freight network and is on a key freight route across the Pennines which links the west and east sides of the country.
“Heavy freight trains, which deliver aggregate products so the construction sector can keep building roads and houses, run over the bridge as well as several daily biomass services to Drax power station, which provide power to the national grid for electricity.”
The beams travelled more than 200 miles by land and sea, beginning their journey in Newbridge, County Clare, in Ireland where they were manufactured. They then crossed the Irish Sea, arriving at Holyhead in Wales, before being transported with a police escort to the M62 site where the bridge will be built in situ.
Image and video credit: Network Rail
