Railway Bridge Replacement, Blackburn

As part of a scheme to improve access into a new rail depot in Blackburn APB were contracted to replace an old steel railway bridge which was not fit for purpose.

As experienced rail construction specialists APB were contracted to remove the dilapidated steel bridge from the original abutments before installing a new precast concrete rail bridge.

Project Details

DESCRIPTION Blackburn Railway Bridge

LOCATION Blackburn

CLIENT Buckingham Group Contracting

VALUE £330,000

COMPLETION September 2017

DURATION 36 Weeks

The Requirement

Dilapidated Steel Rail Bridge Replacement

In order for works to commence, and with the safety of the public and our workforce in mind, an initial ground investigation survey had to be undertaken at the site in order to decide on a safe location for the installation of the pad to house a 500 tonne crane. Window sampling and dynamic probing were completed and results were fed back to the temporary works designers.

Following this initial stage of investigation a large area of land was designated, cleared and then flattened before being infilled with large pockets of stone to help transfer the load of the cranes outriggers and to create a sufficiently stable matt for the crane to drive onto with imported stone.

The Solution

Precast Concrete Bridge Structure Installation

Once the site had been prepared for the safe removal of the old steel bridge a specialist lifting team then commenced with the extraction of the old steel structure. Following the safe removal of the original steel bridge from the site our team were able to fully assess the condition of the bridge abutments.

In order for the original bridge abutments to safely take the weight of the new precast concrete bridge beams, new precast concrete cills were installed and the bridge deck beams were then lifted in to place along with precast parapet units. Shear connections were infilled with concrete prior to the deck being waterproofed and covered with mot type 1 limestone and rail ballast.