Marston Box Rail Bridge is a
railway bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...
currently under construction in the United Kingdom. Once complete, it will carry
High Speed 2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...
over the
M42 motorway
The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south-west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth on the way, ...
.
History
In November 2021, it was announced that the bridge would be installed using the box slide method to minimise disruption to the motorway.
The M42 was closed between junctions nine and ten from 24 December to 31 December 2021 for preparatory works.
In December 2022 the bridge deck was slid into place over a period of forty hours. To allow the work to take place the southbound carriageway was closed on 23 December and the northbound carriageway was closed on 24 December. Both directions were reopened on 1 January 2023, two days ahead of schedule.
References
{{High Speed 2 articles
Railway bridges in England
High Speed 2