HS2 Delta Junction viaduct segments complete at Kingsbury

HS2 Delta Junction viaduct segments have now been fully produced at a purpose-built factory beside the M42 near Kingsbury in Warwickshire. The work completes the manufacture of more than 2,700 units for the triangular viaduct network outside Birmingham.

HS2 Delta Junction viaduct segments for the Birmingham route

Each segment weighs up to 85 tonnes. After fabrication, the units were moved by road to nearby construction sites. There, they were lifted into position and secured to form the viaduct spans.

HS2’s Delta Junction is one of the most complicated parts of the wider project. Also, it will carry the new high-speed railway across a network of motorways, local roads, railways, rivers and floodplains. Two main groups of viaducts are being built at Coleshill and at Water Orton/River Thame. They use precast segments from the temporary Kingsbury precast factory.

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Meanwhile, around three quarters of the 2,742 segments produced at the site have been installed. For example, the latest stage of work has completed deck assembly for the Coleshill viaducts and the key spans of the Water Orton 1 and 2 viaducts, which cross the A446.

Warwickshire production site shifts to new precast work

With deck segment production now complete, the Warwickshire production site will move on to other precast elements needed for the project. In addition, this next phase includes deck slabs for the Curzon Approach viaducts in Birmingham.

HS2 Ltd’s Head of Delivery, Caroline Warrington, said:

Casting these enormous segments on site, close to the viaducts, helps us deliver a quality product and reduce disruption for road users. It’s great to see the final segments complete and I’d like to thank everyone involved in the manufacturing process.

With this part of the work finished, the team can begin to focus on the deck slabs for the approach viaducts which will carry the railway into central Birmingham.

Balfour Beatty VINCI and the HS2 viaduct construction process

Over the past three and a half years, the precast yard produced as many as eight segments a day. Each unit weighed between 50 and 85 tonnes. At the same time, every segment is 3.5 metres high. Segments are made in either a 7-metre or 11-metre width. They support both single-track and double-track sections of the route. Together, they will form more than four miles (6.5km) of viaduct deck.

Separately, the project is being delivered by HS2’s West Midlands main works contractor, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV). Still, the viaducts are assembled using a cantilever method. Temporary steel cables support the segments until a span is complete. Permanent post-tensioned cables are then installed through the hollow centre of the structure. They strengthen it. The same process is repeated from pier to pier until every span is finished.

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