HS2 Construction Updates - Birmingham Area

[bib]

Delta Junction is going to be very impressive when it is complete, lots of piers starting to appear.

Not exactly Birmingham but there's no Hansacre/Lichfield thread, a good flyover of the crossing of WCML, A38 and Lichfield-Burton Line. Looks like the rail bridges have been installed already, I'm not sure what the plan is for the A38, but they appear to be starting to excavate a cutting/portal structure.

 

[Snow1964]

New drone of the Bromford tunnel portal area

 

[The Planner]

New drone of the Bromford tunnel portal area

That is the Water Orton end of it, Bromford is at the other end. Its kept its name from when it was just Bromford it went under and before the extension.

 

[Snow1964]

New HS2 video on TBMs near Bromford

 

[Nottingham59]

Are there any videos which show construction progress to the north of Delta junction? I'd be intrigued to see how much, if any, of the junction towards the Eastern Arm is going to get built - or even evidence of passive provision for it to be added later.

To help locate it, the junction is shown in this clip from openrailwaymap. Thanks.

 

[Snow1964]

Are there any videos which show construction progress to the north of Delta junction? I'd be intrigued to see how much, if any, of the junction towards the Eastern Arm is going to get built - or even evidence of passive provision for it to be added later.

Not sure what the plan is, but the French often build the first bit of new line, did it with proposed TGV est from the interconnection, was about 100m of track rusting for a decade, but easier than trying to build immediately next to live 200mph railway

 

[The Planner]

Are there any videos which show construction progress to the north of Delta junction? I'd be intrigued to see how much, if any, of the junction towards the Eastern Arm is going to get built - or even evidence of passive provision for it to be added later.

To help locate it, the junction is shown in this clip from openrailwaymap. Thanks.
View attachment 156330

The junction is being built.

 

[Nottingham59]

The junction is being built.

Do you know how far? My assumption is they will have cut it back to the shortest possible stump consistent with not interfering with the live lines in the future.

 

[The Planner]

Do you know how far? My assumption is they will have cut it back to the shortest possible stump consistent with not interfering with the live lines in the future.

Exactly that.

 

[Geezertronic]

They are making a right dogs dinner of the road configuration of Birmingham Road from Bacons End to Coleshill. Be interesting to see the construction progress. Although if the road surface gets as bad as Coleshill Heath Road, then they would be better off resurfacing it

 

[chris2]

They are making a right dogs dinner of the road configuration of Birmingham Road from Bacons End to Coleshill. Be interesting to see the construction progress. Although if the road surface gets as bad as Coleshill Heath Road, then they would be better off resurfacing it

Pretty sure the opening shot in this recent drone footage shows the junction.

 

[The Planner]

They are making a right dogs dinner of the road configuration of Birmingham Road from Bacons End to Coleshill. Be interesting to see the construction progress. Although if the road surface gets as bad as Coleshill Heath Road, then they would be better off resurfacing it

Thats a permanent solution, it looks like the viaducts sit on the existing road.

 

[bib]

Rather a large pile of viaduct sections sitting at the Hams Hall factory site now, although the video in post #161 shows some have been moved to the construction site already.

 

[Nottingham59]

Rather a large pile of viaduct sections sitting at the Hams Hall factory site now, although the video in post #161 shows some have been moved to the construction site already.

Do we know how are the sections will be transported to where they will be used?
They seem too large to go by road.

 

[Dave_Cardboard]

Do we know how are the sections will be transported to where they will be used?
They seem too large to go by road.

On the Colne Valley Viaduct (Hillingdon) they were transported using road vehicles (albeit specialist large/heavy/abnormal load vehicles) over internal haul roads. (In this video, it's along the trace of the railway itself.)

I imagine, for PR reasons if nothing else, they would want to avoid using the public highway as much as possible. It might be interesting to look at something like Google Earth and see if there is a network of haul roads that would facilitate "building out" from the production site (to the south and west.)

 

[snowball]

On the Colne Valley Viaduct (Hillingdon) they were transported using road vehicles (albeit specialist large/heavy/abnormal load vehicles) over internal haul roads. (In this video, it's along the trace of the railway itself.)

However, the HS2 junctions area around Water Orton is criss-crossed by motorways, main roads and railways.

 

[Nottingham59]

However, the HS2 junctions area around Water Orton is criss-crossed by motorways, main roads and railways.

The Chinese sometimes transport new viaduct sections along the viaduct itself. As shown in this video:

But I've not seen any suggestion that this would be done on HS2.

 

[Snow1964]

New video, it is actually on reopening of section of Lichfield canal. But includes info on some of the new HS2 funded bridges and some drone shots. Not been that many videos of HS2 construction in Lichfield and Hansacre areas so hopefully of interest

 

[TheHSRailFan]

New video, it is actually on reopening of section of Lichfield canal. But includes info on some of the new HS2 funded bridges and some drone shots. Not been that many videos of HS2 construction in Lichfield and Hansacre areas so hopefully of interest

Skimmed through and as a Member of the LHCRT (The trust restoring the canal) its good to see part of the canal operating. Of course, we are waiting on news on the construction of that bridge so hopefully it will be soon.

 

[CourtAboveCut]

New video, it is actually on reopening of section of Lichfield canal. But includes info on some of the new HS2 funded bridges and some drone shots. Not been that many videos of HS2 construction in Lichfield and Hansacre areas so hopefully of interest

Thanks this is me, I try to add bits about HS2 when filming on canals it has an impact on. I plan to hit the Oxford soon as well. There’s not much happening there tbh, next time I’ll go closer to the A38 and see what’s happening but it’ll be a few months away.

 

[Snow1964]

HS2 has moved bridge across the M42 - M6 link road

HS2 has released timelapse and drone footage showing contractors moving a 1,100 tonne composite viaduct into place over two M42/M6 link roads in North Warwickshire.

The 158-metre-long structure was moved into place in 13 hours using a specialist push-pull jacking technique.

The 'East M42-M6 Link Viaduct’ is one of 13 viaducts which make up HS2’s triangular Delta Junction. This section of the railway enables high speed trains to travel between London, Interchange Station in Solihull and Birmingham Curzon Street Station.

The operation was completed 10 hours ahead of schedule during a weekend road closure, enabling the motorway link roads to be opened earlier than planned.

IN PICTURES: HS2 moves 1,100 tonne viaduct in weekend operation

View and download 30 second timelapse and drone video View and download photos

mediacentre.hs2.org.uk

 

[Geogregor]

Latest from around Curzon:

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

For I think the first time since construction started, you can see most of the trace of HS2 on Google Maps.
This depends on how up to date the Google Maps photography is, and in some places (eg the Colne Valley viaduct) it is well behind progress on the ground.
But bit by bit the trace is becoming obvious and almost continuous - outside the tunnels of course.

The attached screenshot shows the route from Fradley northeast of Lichfield to Water Orton where the delta junction starts.
In some places it shows actual construction, but mostly it shows haul roads and the cleared solum which shows up in aerial images.
As another example of progress, the underpass below the WCML east of Lichfield, which we know has been completed, is not shown, but the work sites either side of the WCML are.
Some stretches might just be a different shade of green where the HS2 area differs from the arable fields growing crops either side.
The trace appears mostly as a sinuous buff-coloured line on the map.
There's nothing to see between Fradley and the site of Handsacre Junction with the WCML, bar the constructor's compounds, as this section was "paused" in 2022.

 

[chris2]

Latest from around Curzon:

These seem to be getting better, feels like they’re finally starting to realise the people watching don’t want a HS2 sales pitch. A way to go before they match the length and depth of DB’s stuttgart videos (for example), but progress.

Birmingham / delta is by some distance the most interesting part of the HS2 construction IMO although does anyone else share my concern that the pace of viaduct construction seems v slow? I mean, it’s impressive what they’ve built so far, but as per the graphic in the vid, it’s but a tiny fraction of what needs building.

Also, does anyone know when they’re going to pick up the giant bridge truss and move it onto the piers? That’s gonna make some heads turn in central Birmingham the day that thing’s whirling around above everyone’s heads!!

 

[snowball]

One thing that had somehow escaped my attention until now is that the bridge that will carry HS2 over the M42, north of the turnoff for the axed eastern arm, is in place.

A feature that I kind of like, though currently visible only on maps, not yet aerial photos, is that the delta junction between the M42 and the link roads to the M6 sits in the middle of the HS2 delta junction.

 

[The Planner]

These seem to be getting better, feels like they’re finally starting to realise the people watching don’t want a HS2 sales pitch. A way to go before they match the length and depth of DB’s stuttgart videos (for example), but progress.

Birmingham / delta is by some distance the most interesting part of the HS2 construction IMO although does anyone else share my concern that the pace of viaduct construction seems v slow? I mean, it’s impressive what they’ve built so far, but as per the graphic in the vid, it’s but a tiny fraction of what needs building.

Also, does anyone know when they’re going to pick up the giant bridge truss and move it onto the piers? That’s gonna make some heads turn in central Birmingham the day that thing’s whirling around above everyone’s heads!!

They won't get picked up, they will be built on site and pushed over. The viaduct pushes are meant to be the back end of 2025.

 

[swt_passenger]

One thing that had somehow escaped my attention until now is that the bridge that will carry HS2 over the M42, north of the turnoff for the axed eastern arm, is in place.

Is that the one shown in post #1, the second video?

 

[Nottingham59]

Is that the one shown in post #1, the second video?

That's the one.

EDIT: I think this bridge and one under the WCML are the only major structures so far that have been built north of Delta

 

[Snow1964]

That's the one.

EDIT: I think this bridge and one under the WCML are the only major structures so far that have been built north of Delta

Isn't the ground generally flatter there, and lot less cuttings, so need to strip whole field widths of topsoil off and build separate haul roads to temporary spoil heaps is rather less.

Of course, the section north of the delta junction is not much more than a connection to existing network without the new lines towards Crewe and East Midlands.

 

[chris2]

They won't get picked up, they will be built on site and pushed over. The viaduct pushes are meant to be the back end of 2025.

Surely this one needs lifting and spinning around for that to be true?