Weekend M6 closure delivers major HS2 milestone

Local TV

A 230-metre HS2 viaduct deck has been slid over the M6 near J4–4A, reopening early and marking a key step in the Delta Junction that brings high-speed trains into Birmingham. What it means for drivers, jobs and the HS2 timeline.

Transcript

00:01These works matter because it unlocks the route into Birmingham.

00:05Without a clean crossing of the M6, HS2 is a line on a map, not a railway you can ride.

00:10Crews assembled the deck beside the motorway, then inched it across on low friction pads,

00:16hauled by winches at roughly walking pace.

00:19Closing the road for a short predictable window kept disruption down.

00:23Handing it back early helps trust, which HS2 needs.

00:27What's been moved is the east deck of the M6 South Viaducts, part of the Delta Junction,

00:32that funnels trains into Curzon Street. It's one of two.

00:36This deck will be extended to around 320 metres.

00:39A matching west deck follows to cover the other pair of tracks.

00:43For drivers, it's a weekend pain to avoid months of line drops.

00:47For rail users, it's a hard milestone.

00:49You can now see the route stepping over one of the busiest roads in the country.

00:53The work also feeds local supply chains in steelworks, civils, traffic management and plant hire,

00:59keeping skilled jobs in the region, while the wider programme resets.

01:04Supporters point to capacity, faster journeys and network resilience,

01:08once services run from Old Oak Common to Birmingham.

01:11Skeptics say scope cuts and rising costs have lowered the bar for what counts as progress.

01:16Both can be true, the railway is smaller than first promised and this is still a significant piece of it.

01:23Next, cruise bolting, the remaining spans stress the structure and prepare to launch the parallel deck.

01:30Track, power and signalling come later. Curzon Street continues in step.

01:35Bottom line, steel is on piers over live traffic.

01:39The city end of HS2 looks less theoretical by the week.

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