TPA lightens HS2’s load

3 January 2024

Portable roadways by trackway specialist TPA have been used in a project to move two heavy HS2 bridges into place in Staffordshire. One was the UK’s heaviest bridge drive using SPMTs (self propelled modular transporters).

TPA’s heavy-duty aluminium panels were specified by Balfour Beatty VINCI for the two locations a mile apart, at Fulfen Wood on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), and Streethay on the South Staffordshire Line, for their speed of installation and cost-effectiveness.

The Fulfen Wood project involved the lift of the record-breaking 6200-tonne concrete portal over a nine-day blockade. TPA had only a six-hour window to install a double layer of 3m-wide panels over a 1200m2 area using Hiabs with chains and grabs.

This overbridge is a 56m long and 19m wide ‘intersection bridge structure’ to allow the high-speed railway to pass beneath the WCML near Lichfield, on its route going north of Birmingham Curzon Street Station.

Over the two days before the move, Balfour Beatty VINCI removed the railway track and excavated over 15,000m3 of material to create the space for the structure to be moved into. 

Built adjacent to the WCML over six months, it was slowly manoeuvred into place on the SPMTs. Specially designed for very heavy lifting, the 840-wheeled transporter with four carrier beams was controlled by a remote steering system.

The tracks and railway systems over the new bridge were then replaced to allow the railway to reopen to passenger and freight services. 

The Streethay project involved the lift of a 2600-tonne deck onto secant piles using 344 SPMT wheels during a 72-day window when TPA’s 3m panels were supplemented by 4m-wide versions for three weeks.

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