HS2 COMPLETES FOUNDATION WORK FOR UK’S LONGEST RAILWAY BRIDGE

The last of 292 concrete piles that will form the foundations for the UK’s longest railway bridge were installed at the site of HS2’s Colne Valley Viaduct, marking a successful end to the first phase of the record-breaking project.

Construction of the HS2 project - which is designed to improve rail links between London, Birmingham and North, help level-up the economy and provide a low-carbon alternative to car and air travel - is ramping up across the UK with almost 30,000 jobs now supported by the project.

The viaduct is being built by HS2 Ltd’s main works contractor Align JV – a team made up of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine, and VolkerFitzpatrick, working with its contractor KVJV– who spent almost two years on the piling. KVJV is a team made up of Keller Group and VSL International.




Set low into the landscape, the widest spans are reserved for where the viaduct crosses the lakes and narrower spans for the approaches. This design was chosen to enable views across the landscape, minimise the viaduct’s footprint on the lakes and help complement the natural surroundings.

Before work began, an extensive programme of test piling was completed with engineers sinking 12 piles at two locations with geological and structural data from these tests fed back into the design of the viaduct. This resulted in a 10-15% reduction in the depth of the piles and associated time and cost savings.