The final milestone of Ordsall Chord was passed on the morning of October 4th as the Northern Hub alliance successfully completed and delivered the seventh and final package of construction works.

Ordsall Chord is a key link between two existing rail routes in Manchester vital to improve the Northern Hub rail network. Once opened to public the link will provide more regular, reliable and faster trains to run in the North.

As the proposed chord alignment was clashing with two existing structures, Princes’ Street Bridge and Stephenson’s Bridge, Hewsons were appointed to carry out live load capacity assessment for the existing structure for its new role as part of the temporary works for the new river crossing.

The existing Princes’ Street Bridge was used to drive steel tubular piles down to river bed. These piles formed part of the temporary support trestles that served both the controlled demolition of the structure, and construction of the new railway arch chord. We also assisted contractor Skanska with checking of the controlled demolition of both bridges.