London, UK — The United Kingdom has celebrated the completion of its longest railway bridge, the Colne Valley Viaduct, following over two years of intensive construction work.
Situated on the outskirts of London, the 2.1-mile-long viaduct is a key component of the High Speed 2 (HS2) project, which aims to connect London with the heart of England. Although the northern leg of the HS2 project was cancelled by the Conservative government before their removal from office in July, the bridge’s completion marks a significant milestone for the initiative.
The Colne Valley Viaduct will facilitate high-speed rail travel, enabling trains to reach speeds of up to 200 mph. It is one of 500 bridging structures included in the HS2 project, which also features footbridges and “green bridges” designed to support local wildlife.
Construction of the viaduct involved the assembly of 1,000 precast segments, produced at an on-site, purpose-built factory. With the final segment now in place, the Colne Valley Viaduct has surpassed Scotland’s Tay Bridge as the UK’s longest railway bridge. The Tay Bridge had held the title since 1887 with a length of 2.05 miles.
Billy Ahluwalia, senior project manager at HS2 Ltd, highlighted the significance of this achievement: “Lowering the Colne Valley viaduct’s final deck segment into place today marks the culmination of more than 10 years of planning, design, and construction. I pay tribute to the dedicated team that has delivered a bridge that is both the longest on HS2 and the United Kingdom’s longest railway bridge—a record that had stood for nearly 140 years. This is a historic achievement of which we can all be immensely proud.”
Once operational, HS2 will connect London with Birmingham, approximately 100 miles northwest of the capital. The project, currently at its peak construction phase, employs over 30,000 individuals.
The next phase of the viaduct’s development will involve installing the rail systems. The Colne Valley Viaduct is expected to become part of the new high-speed railway between 2029 and 2033.
In a related development, back in 2022, a massive 2,000-ton tunneling machine named Dorothy was used to bore through the UK countryside for the HS2 project. The machine was named after Dorothy Hodgkin, the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.
Newsweek has reached out to HS2 Ltd for further comment outside of standard working hours. The progress of HS2 and similar high-speed rail projects globally continues to be a focal point of infrastructure development and transportation planning.
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