HS2 celebrates halfway point for pioneering Thame Valley Viaduct

Construction of HS2’s pioneering Thame Valley Viaduct has now passed the halfway point, with 44 out of 72 customised pre-cast beams in position, 66 of the piers installed and work well underway on the deck that will support the railway.

The viaduct, located near Aylesbury is one of the longest on the high speed rail project and a UK-first in terms of the amount of the structure which is being manufactured off-site.

Instead of using a more traditional approach, with multiple narrower beams for each span, the design team opted for a simple structural solution with just two larger hollow 25m u-shaped beams per span.

These, alongside deck slabs, parapets and all but two of the piers, are being manufactured almost 85 miles away, at a factory on the Isle of Grain, in Kent.

The simple design, inspired by viaducts on the Spanish high speed rail network allows the beams to be secured directly to one another without concrete being poured on site. It also reduces the amount of carbon-intensive concrete and steel in the structure – cutting its carbon footprint by around a third.

Crossing the flood plain of the River Thame, the 880m long viaduct will carry HS2 services between London and Birmingham – dramatically improving journeys while freeing up space for more freight and local services on the existing network.

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0:00 Introduction
0:21 Where are we?
0:31 A unique viaduct
0:52 Previous works
1:13 Precast components
1:29 Installing the components
1:52 The viaduct piers
2:09 More on precast elements
2:28 Post tensioning design
3:18 Final thoughts
3:33 Outro

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