Huge new UK bridge that's two miles long and costs whopping £1.6billon to build

20 February 2024 , 12:02

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The River Colne Viaduct will run between HS2’s London and Chiltern tunnel (Image: (Image: HS2))

A project to build the UK's longest railway bridge, which will be two miles long and cost a whopping £1.6bn to build, is moving closer to completion.

The River Colne Viaduct - between HS2’s London and Chiltern tunnels - has been made using a thousand deck segments, each weighing 140 tonnes. That's 700 times the weight of the world's largest animal the blue whale. So far 700 of the deck segments have been installed with the bridge more than halfway complete as work continues from north to south. Construction on the bridge began in 2021, with teams and their bridge-building machines working to build over Colne Valley Park near Denham.

The project, costing around £1.6bn according to Building.co.uk, is one of the biggest single civil engineering works of HS2 Phase One. Once trains start running in six to 10 years, the Colne Valley will offer HS2 passengers their first rural views after leaving London. The design of the bridge was inspired by the flight of a stone skipping across water, with a series of spans carrying the railway 10m above the lakes, river and canal.

When it opens, trains will be able to travel up to 200mph and will cross the entire viaduct in just 40 seconds. The design was inspired by the flight of a stone skipping across the water, with a series of elegant spans, some up to 80m long, carrying the railway around 10m above the surface of the lakes, River Colne and the Grand Union Canal.

The River Colne Viaduct is more than half complete ((Image: HS2))

A spokesperson for HS2 told Express.co.uk: "Works to build the viaduct are part of our civil engineering main works. After that stage of construction will come the rail systems fit out, which includes track laying, and installation of both overhead electrical wires and noise barriers."

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The first part of the HS2 project will link London with Birmingham and trains will be able to make the journey in just 49 minutes. It's expected to be ready between 2029 and 2033. The second phase was meant to extend the line from Birmingham to Manchester, but it was stopped in October 2023. Rishi Sunak said it would be dropped even though a track had already been built up to Handsacre in Staffordshire.

Rom Preston-Ellis