In part one we looked in general at the Stafford Area Improvement Programme, in part two we will look in more detail at Norton Bridge. This part of the project involves constructing 6 miles of new railway and a new grade separated junction which will remove a key bottleneck.
Work to construct 6 miles of new 100mph railway and flyover at Norton Bridge began in spring 2014 and has been progressing well since with several key milestone complete.
3 high pressure gas mains and 1 aviation fuel pipeline have been moved, 4 out of 5 rail over river crossing have also been complete.
One of the key milestones which was completed earlier this month (June 2015) was the construction of bridge 5 which will eventually carry the diverted B5026 over the existing railway,
The completion of bridge 5 means that earth can be transported safely within the site by articulated haul trucks. Each 6 wheel haul truck can carry up to 30 tonnes of earth at a time from a large cutting to elsewhere within the site.
The excavation of the section of cutting for part of the 6 miles of new railway is one of the biggest aspects of the project. The cutting at its deepest section will be 15m deep with an embankment 80m wide at the widest point.
Excavating the cutting will involve moving 1 million tonnes of earth, or 650,000 cu metres all of which will be used on site. The works which are 'cut and fill neutral' will use all of the material excavated from the cutting to construct embankments and bunds elsewhere on the site, this mean that non of the material will have to leave the site; vastly reducing disruption for local residents.
One surprising aspect of the construction of bridge 5 and 5a is that they were constructed with minimal disruption to the existing railway. Bridge piles for bridges 5 and 5a were installed whilst the line remained live, this was achieved by using piling mats to help stabilise the piling rig and protective fencing along the line to protect passing trains and those working on site.
Pre cast concrete abutments were also used to minimise the construction that took place near the line. The railway only had to be closed overnight on two occasions in order for each of the bridge sections to be craned into place, with each bridge span only requiring one lift.
Construction of bridge 6/6a which will take rail and road over Meece Brook is well under way. The massive concrete structure which is currently exposed is mostly complete and waiting for earth to be built up around it to form embankments. The new bridges and embankments will carry the re-aligned B5026 and railway over Meece Brook.
Work on this massive project is progressing well and should be complete and operational by mid 2016
Key Facts
- 15 articulated dump tricks (ADTs) work 10 hours a day to move an average of 4000 cu metres of earth every day
- 1.2km of new roads will be constructed
- 11 Bridges constructed
- 5 river diversions and 3 road diversions required
- Piling for bridges 5 and 5a took place just 6m away from the live railway
- 650,000 cu metres of earth will have to be moved all together
The cutting being excavated by a small army of 360 degree excavators
One of the ADTS trucks descends from the recently completed bridge 5
Bridges 6 and 6a share a single abutment, but have 2 separate spans. This is a stipulation by the environment agency in order to allow natural light to reach Meece Brook which will be re-diverted under the bridge once complete.
Bridge 5a, which is currently used to transport material over the railway.
Bridge 5 which will take the new railway over the existing
