Ordsall Chord - key milestone

It has been almost a year since I first wrote about the Ordsall Chord project which once complete will connect Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly stations for the first time.

Tuesday (21st Feb) was a particularly important day as the steel arch which will carry part of the chord over the River Irwell was lifted into place. There were plenty of press and media in the area to report on this key milestone.

The lift of the 600 tonne arch began at around 5am (21st Feb), it was expected that the lift would commence later however the weather reports coming in showed high winds for later on in the day.

The lift viewed from Irwell Street

The lift required 2 Liebherr crawler cranes, the smaller of which is rated at 750 tonnes, the other which is also the biggest movable crane in the country is rated at 1350 tonnes.

By 10am the arch had been lifted into position over the bridge deck however had not been fully lowered into its final position. At one end of the arch (pictured below) engineers were ready to connect the arch to pre-positioned end sections. If you enlarge the picture you can see the gap still remaining through the scaffolding.

The other end of the arch was ready to be lowered and secured onto spherical bearings which will allow for expansion and contraction.

I had hoped to see the final connections being made, however I was informed that lowering the final few inches could take a number of hours as measurements were checked (and re-checked) and engineers prepared to secure the arch.

As the forecast inclement weather rolled in I left with still about 6 inches left to go before the arch would be in its final position. If the engineer I spoke to was correct it may not be fully in place until 10pm. As was the arch finally touched down at around 6pm (21st Feb)

The arch will be secured with temporary bolts to hold it into position, the horizontal tension cables supporting the arch shape will then be released.  

The horizontal tension cables connected to stand jacks were used to hold the arch in shape until it is finally in place and connected. If the cables had not been attached the arch would have flattened out and would not have fit into the gap.

Temporary bolts will support the arch in place for around a month whilst each end of the arch is welded to make the final physical connection. It will also take around a month to attach the hangers which will connect the arch to the bridge deck. Currently the bridge is supported underneath by temporary supports until the arch and bridge are joined.

Network Rail say that the chord will be open in time for services to begin operating in Dec 2017, so hopefully my next report will from one of the first services to cross the chord in late 17.

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Ordsall Chord

Work to construct a new chord that will eventually connect Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly began in October 2015 after several years of debate, planning and legal wrangling. In fact the final legal challenge which had the potential to halt the project was not thrown out of court until March this year (2016).

It was hoped that the chord would be open by 2016 but the legal challenge has meant that the £85m project will not now be complete until late 2017.

The denial by the court for the projects main opponent Mark Whitby to appeal an earlier decision to throw out his case means that the project can now proceed at full pace. In late March (2016) an agreement was signed by Amey, Skanska, Bam Nuttall, and Siemens in partnership with Network Rail to deliver the project.

Approval to proceed with the chord constitutes a major step forward in the Northern Hub programme which aims to connect cities across the north with reliable, frequent and fast rail services. By connecting Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly together for the first time new service opportunities will arise and crucially capacity will be released with the ability to run through services from Victoria instead of having services terminate.

The new chord will link the Castlefield Junction line with the Deal Street Junction line, connecting Manchester's three main stations for the first time. The line must cross the A6042 Trinity Way, the River Irwel, Princess Bridge and bisect the line which currently connects the Museum of Science and Industry to the national rail network.

Looking south along Trinity Way toward where the new bridge will be constructed

The line will feature the UK's first Network Arch bridge, which will span the River Irwel and take the line over the Princess Bridge which provides pedestrian and cycle access between Water Street and Trinity Way.

The view from Water St looking toward where the bridge will cross the River Irwel

Since the start of work last year the main sites have now been established and piling is now commencing. A 10 day blockade of Manchester Victoria took place over the Easter period to allow the track between the station and the chord to be aligned along with other associated track works.

Admittedly there isn't currently a great deal to see on the ground other than the work sites and some piling work, but we will return in a few months to check on progress when the structures start to take shape.

The main site located on the junction of Trinity Way and Water St

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