A major milestone has been reachedTrans running underneath the newly-installed Greek Street bridge in Stockport(Image: Network Rail)
The railway line through Stockport has reopened after a remarkable feat of engineering was successfully completed.
The Greek Street bridge had on it a four-way roundabout which carried traffic over the West Coast mainline next to Stockport station.
It is a key interchange between Stockport town centre, Shaw Heath and Edgeley.
Built in 1958, it had reached the end of its life, said Network Rail, who are currently in the midst of dismantling, demolishing and replacing it in a mammoth project which has been dubbed the biggest in the borough since the construction of the M60.
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The roundabout and roads approaching it were closed in March, and the West Coast Mainline from Manchester to Cheshire was shut for 21 days beginning on Saturday, August 2.
Trains had to be halted whilst the old bridge was dismantled and taken away, and the new one put in.
You can watch the timelapse footage here
Railway through Stockport reopens as Greek Street bridge replaced
In an epic 21-day operation, 200 concrete beams were removed by huge canes before being loaded onto HGVs and taken away.
Whilst the new bridge structure of 51 51 parts – 10 concrete cills, 22 steel beams, 6 concrete beams and 13 parapet wall sections – were brought in and put into place by the cranes.
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With a combined weight of 1,300 tonnes, the new bridge parts were inched into position across a 60m gap above the tracks, in the place where the former structure was standing for 67 years.
Due to their size, a total of 18 of them had to be brought by police escort from Trafford Park with traffic lights and street furniture removed from a local junction so they could be brought in one-one-one over a four-day period.
The line was closed for 21 days whilst the old beams were taken out(Image: Network Rail)
Around 100 engineers are working around the clock as part of the project.
The first services resumed this morning (Saturday, August 23) with a major milestone in the project now passed.
The railway line was reopened in time for a number of events, including a packed programme of football matches and Pride festival in Manchester.
Some of the new beams had to be brought in under police escort(Image: Network Rail)
Network Rail also said they used the closure of the line to complete much-needed work on the line, including track and points renewal in Macclesfield, platform reconstruction at Poynton, amongst other work in Cheshire and Staffordshire, said to be worth another £23 million.
John Nixon, Capital Delivery senior programme manager, for Network Rail, said: “We’d like to thank passengers impacted by this significant railway closure of the West Coast Main Line for the last three weeks.
The roundabout won’t reopen until next Spring(Image: Network Rail)
“It’s allowed us to invest tens of millions of pounds and make wide-ranging improvements to provide a safer and more reliable railway, benefiting journeys for passengers and freight in the future.
“While we completed this work all in time as planned for the bank holiday, with services expected to be busy with major events and football matches, railway upgrades on further parts of the network and strike action today by staff at CrossCountry trains, we’d still advise people to check before they travel so they know what to expect from their journey this weekend.”
Whilst the new bridge is now in place, and protective matting placed over the tracks removed, the project is far from complete.
Utilities and the road layout all have to be installed. The new road is due to reopen to traffic next March.