IN Brief:
- HS2 engineers have completed Curzon 2, the tallest bridge structure on the high-speed rail route.
- The 4,200-tonne weathering steel bridge will be launched in three phases over the Birmingham–Lichfield railway line.
- The structure forms part of the Curzon approaches, where multiple viaducts are being delivered through a constrained urban rail corridor.
HS2 Ltd has completed construction of Curzon 2, the tallest bridge structure on the high-speed rail network, ahead of a complex launch operation over the Cross City railway line near Birmingham city centre.
The 150-metre-long bridge forms part of the Curzon approaches, a sequence of five viaducts carrying the route through the final mile into Birmingham Curzon Street Station. Its 24-metre-high truss is made from 670 individual steel sections, welded into triangular units using weathering steel that will darken over time.
At around 4,200 tonnes, the completed structure is one of the most substantial visible assets on the Birmingham section of the programme. Once locked into position, the top of the arched truss will stand more than 40 metres above ground level, making it a prominent new element in the city’s rail infrastructure.
Balfour Beatty VINCI has led the civil engineering work, with around 250 engineers involved across a three-year programme. Permanent piling works were completed in 2023, with 32 piles installed to depths of around 30 metres, before the 150-metre deck was assembled on top of the seven piers of the adjacent Curzon 1 viaduct during 2024.
Threaded between the River Rea and the existing railway network, the project has had to progress within a tightly constrained corridor. Steel segments were lifted into place using cranes weighing up to 650 tonnes, while welding teams worked at height inside fabricated boxes to shield the joints from wind and adverse weather.
The launch operation will move the deck and truss structure around 180 metres using a jacking system. The first stage will push the bridge 50 metres towards the railway boundary during night works, while the second stage will move the structure 93 metres over the twin-track railway during a planned closure of the Cross City line between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley. A final 37-metre push will dock the bridge onto four concrete piers.
Rail bridge launches of this scale rely on temporary works discipline as heavily as permanent structural design. Temporary bearings, hydraulic strand jacks, possession planning, movement monitoring, and interface control all have to work within tight tolerances, particularly where a new high-speed railway is being routed through live urban infrastructure.
The bridge forms part of the same Birmingham construction landscape as HS2’s £856m Washwood Heath depot contract, where brownfield redevelopment, rail systems, civil engineering, and operational readiness are being delivered as a single long-term programme. Curzon 2 is a different form of asset, but both schemes show the density of construction interfaces now concentrated around HS2’s West Midlands corridor.
The wider programme remains under heightened scrutiny as HS2 chief executive Mark Wild continues to review cost, specification, programme, and delivery strategy for the London to Birmingham route. Live civil engineering milestones continue within that environment, placing greater emphasis on delivery certainty across the remaining packages.
Curzon 2’s role is both structural and strategic. It is a highly visible bridge, but its value lies in unlocking a critical section of the approach into Curzon Street. The launch will depend on detailed preparation, railway access discipline, and the coordination of multiple engineering teams around narrow possession windows.
Once in place, the bridge will carry the new railway over the existing corridor and connect into the route towards Birmingham’s new high-speed station. In construction terms, the final mile into the city centre remains one of the most demanding sections of the programme.
