The M6 in Cumbria has reopened half a day earlier than planned after the successful installation of a 4,200-tonne railway bridge over the motorway this weekend. Clifton railway bridge, near Penrith, has been replaced by Network Rail and its contractor Skanska as part of a £60 million investment to make the West Coast Main Line fit for the future.

On Saturday, January 10, the new 130-metre-long structure was carefully manoeuvred into place. The new pre-built bridge – which has been waiting in the wings after the old structure was demolished last weekend – was driven into place by specialist machines with more than 600 wheels.

To allow the huge civil engineering project to take place, two unprecedented 60-hour closures of the whole motorway were scheduled between junctions 39 and 40 over consecutive weekends. Despite sub-zero temperatures and bad weather, work went so well that the motorway reopened shortly before 4pm on Sunday 11 January – 13 hours ahead of schedule – allowing National Highways’ diversionary routes to be lifted much earlier than planned.

The old bridge, over the M6 between junction 39 at Shap and junction 40 at Penrith, was successfully demolished during the first of two weekend closures of the motorway.

The West Coast Main Line mainline is a critical part of the national rail network and the new bridge will be installed over the motorway this weekend. 

Christian Irwin OBE, Network Rail North West and Central region Capital Delivery director, said: 

“It’s a testament to the hard work of hundreds of people that we’ve been able to install this huge new structure both successfully and speedily.“We’ve been in close contact with National Highways throughout so we could capitalise on that and get the M6 reopen over half a day ahead of schedule to alleviate pressure on local roads.

“I’d like to once again thank drivers for adhering to the road diversions, and also thank the local communities impacted by them this weekend, so we could carry out this vital work to secure journeys for both road and rail users in the future.

Steve Mason, National Highways programme delivery manager, said:

“We’d like to thank motorway users and particularly local people for their patience and support over the weekend. There was congestion during the day as expected but at other times there was a good flow on the diversion routes and, as promised, we were able to open the southbound A6 overnight to reduce journey times for everyone including HGV drivers. 

(Picture: National Highways)