The UK’s longest railway bridge, a 2.1-mile viaduct crossing roads, lakes, the River Colne and Grand Union Canal northwest of London, has been accomplished after greater than a decade of development
The finished Colne Valley Viaduct (Picture: Getty)
The UK’s longest railway bridge, stretching 2.1 miles, crosses roads, lakes, the River Colne, and the Grand Union Canal northwest of London.
Trains will obtain speeds of 200mph alongside the viaduct, which includes 1,000 individually formed deck segments supported by 56 piers.
Constructed for HS2, the bridge reached full completion in September 2025, formally overtaking the historic Tay Bridge, which had maintained the excellence of being the UK’s longest railway bridge since 1887.
With a price ticket of roughly £1.6bn and over a decade in growth, the Colne Valley viaduct won’t solely transport passengers at excessive pace but in addition mark a big landmark in Britain’s railway engineering heritage.
Close to Denham, near the M25 motorway, the viaduct connects Northolt Tunnel beneath west London and the Chiltern Tunnel to the north.
It’s the longest of greater than 50 main viaducts deliberate alongside the HS2 route between London and the West Midlands.
Development began in 2021, with the ultimate large deck section positioned in September 2024.
Since then, engineers have been becoming parapets, putting in noise obstacles and finishing waterproofing, drainage and a structural well being monitoring system.
The work was delivered by Align JV, a three way partnership between Bouygues Travaux Publics, VolkerFitzpatrick and Sir Robert McAlpine.
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The principal civil engineering part completed on the finish of 2025, after which work commenced to put in railway programs.
Short-term development websites and the precast manufacturing facility at the moment are being dismantled, with the encompassing land being restored to chalk grassland and woodland as a part of the HS2 inexperienced hall scheme
Billy Ahluwalia, HS2 Ltd’s senior mission supervisor for the viaduct stated following the completion of the viaduct in September: “The completion of the viaduct marks greater than 10 years of planning, design and development. I am immensely pleased with the extent of dedication and professionalism proven by the entire crew to take care of excessive requirements of security and high quality, working over land and water to ship.
“It is a exceptional achievement. The viaduct is a construction of worldwide significance – a shocking feat of engineering that may little question stand the take a look at of time.”
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Coralie Peroux, Align JV mission director, added: “I am immensely pleased with the Align crew and our provide chain companions, not only for efficiently finishing the UK’s longest rail bridge, however for the exceptional method they delivered it.
“Confronted with the technical challenges in design and development, they harnessed their experience, labored as an built-in mission crew, and embraced collaboration. Their efforts have produced a placing HS2 landmark and created a priceless studying legacy for future designers, engineers and development professionals.”
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