Castleton Bridge, which spans the Transpennine M62 motorway, is being renewed. British infrastructure agency Network Rail had prepared Greater Manchester for disruption. Rebuilding the bridge, requires serval closures of the motorway. Those closures have included one for the delivery of huge 42-metre-long beams for the bridge superstructure.

The M62 motorway is a critical west-east communications corridor across the North of England, connecting Liverpool with Manchester, Leeds and Hull. However, the railway at Castleton, between Manchester and Rochdale, is a vital south-north link, too, carrying mixed traffic, including an annual burden of 3,000 freight trains. The bridge that carries the railway over the motorway is life-expired, and renewal works are underway. The very biggest single components – a pair of steel beams for the bridge – have been delivered to a specially built compound, in a project cargo move across three countries.

Overnight closures on the motorway

It may not be the biggest project on the UK railway network, but it could be the most disruptive – at least in the short term. Network Rail is investing more than £22m (€25.75m) to rebuild a major railway bridge that takes trains over the M62 in Castleton, near Rochdale. The project will involve the first-ever weekend closure of the M62. In preparation, a partial closure was required to deliver two 42m beams, which will be the mainstay of the replacement bridge.

Network Rail, the national infrastructure agency, had already publicised the closures. The main works will take place in September. However, delivering a pair of rigid 42-metre, 70-tonne steel beams required an overnight closure of the M62. Overnight closures on the motorway, which runs west-east over the northern edge of Manchester, are nothing new. The road is often closed for maintenance. However, the sight of two huge specialist transporters was certainly unusual.

Multinational effort to deliver the project

Castleton Bridge is an integral part of the passenger metro around Greater Manchester. However, its wider significance is to freight operations. The bridge carries 6 per cent of the UK’s energy supply. Freight trains carry biomass, mainly from Liverpool, to the huge generating complex at Drax in Selby in Yorkshire. “The replacement of Castleton bridge is essential for the safe running of our railway. The UK’s energy supply relies on the bridge for transportation,” said Olivia Boland from Network Rail. “It is a unique project that sees weekend closures of the M62 for the first time.”

Every corner of the UK and Ireland has already been involved in the project. The beams were manufactured by Murphy in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. They were transported over the Irish Sea to Holyhead, Wales. From there, a convoy liveried for Glasgow-based West of Scotland Heavy Haulage brought the beams to their English destination under escort, completing a 200-mile (320-km) journey. The Scottish connection may only be skin deep—the company in question was liquidated some years ago.

Motorway closure times

“Castleton bridge is an essential part of the country’s freight network,” said David Hunter, Network Rail’s senior freight manager. [It] is on a key freight route across the Pennines that links the west and east sides of the country. Heavy freight trains, which deliver aggregate products so the construction sector can keep building roads and houses, run over the bridge, as do several daily biomass services to Drax.”

The principal part of the bridge build will take place in September. The M62 will be closed over two weekends, on the eastbound carriageway between junctions 18 and 20 and the westbound carriageway between junctions 19 and J20. Closures are from 21:00 on Friday 6 – until 06:00 on Monday 9 September and at the same times from Friday 20 – until Monday 23 September.

This article was first published on PCJ’s sister website Railfreight.com