UK: Network Rail has awarded Skanska a £52m contract to replace bridge SAS13 which takes the Stechford – Aston line across the Birmingham – Derby route to the east of Birmingham city centre.
The contract has been awarded as part of Skanska’s work under the Infrastructure Projects Central Framework.
The existing bridge comprising eight masonry arches and a central steel span will be demolished, and replaced with a single 92 m span steel structure which Skanska said would be the largest single span railway bridge in the West Midlands.
The bridge has been designed to minimise the steel tonnage and for offsite fabrication. Construction will make use of ground granulated blast furnace slag.
The project will pave the way for the construction of the High Speed 2 route to Birmingham city centre and the planned HS2 Midlands Maintenance Depot. ‘This structure is a key element of the Water Orton Corridor programme of works, which is critical to HS2’s overarching strategy’, said Neil Gaskin, Head of Capital Delivery (Central) at Network Rail.
