HS2 Installs First Steel Span of New Saltley Viaduct in Birmingham

HS2 Ltd's construction partner Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) has installed the first steel span of the new Saltley Viaduct in Birmingham, which will carry the high-speed line over the B4114 and the Birmingham–Derby railway lines, HS2 Ltd said in a statement.

Working through the August bank holiday weekend to limit disruption to passenger services, BBV engineers assembled the 55-metre span on land beside the original viaduct, now demolished, before driving it into position over the live Birmingham–Derby lines using self-propelled modular transporters — the same technique used two years earlier on the neighbouring Aston Church Road bridge.

"We chose the same technique used on the neighbouring Aston Church Road bridge two years ago," said Dan Binns, BBV's senior project manager, after engineers safely manoeuvred the span into place. HS2 Ltd project manager Nic Ryder said the team "worked incredibly hard over the Bank Holiday weekend to ensure we were finished in time for the railway to reopen."

Three more spans remain: a 35-metre section crossing the new HS2 line, due to be lifted into place by crane in October, and two further spans over the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal later this year. The finished viaduct will be 4.5 metres wider than its predecessor, with LED-lit walkways and additional space for cyclists and pedestrians, and is due to reopen to road and pedestrian traffic in November 2027.

For contractors and infrastructure managers, the phased, over-track installation at Saltley is a live example of how HS2 is threading new high-speed structures through Birmingham's dense, still-operating rail network while keeping disruption to Birmingham-Derby services to a single bank holiday weekend.