A 50m crane in use installing eight concrete beams for one of three railway link bridges in Northamptonshire.A 50m crane in use installing eight concrete beams for one of three railway link bridges in Northamptonshire.
A 50m crane in use installing eight concrete beams for one of three railway link bridges in Northamptonshire.

In pictures: Huge crane needed in Northamptonshire to install concrete beams for railway link bridge

Nearly 450 tonnes of concrete beams were lifted over the A5

A huge crane was needed in Northamptonshire last weekend to lift tonnes of concrete beams over a busy road.

On Saturday (April 17), as part of the A5 railway link bridge, close to Crick, eight concrete beams were installed.

The railway link bridge will, which carry two tracks and has an effective span of 30 metres over the highway, is one of three bridges that Winvic is constructing for Prologis at DIRFT III in Northamptonshire, as part of a £29 million contract to deliver a new state-of-the art Intermodal Rail Freight Terminal.

The beams were lifted into place on to the reinforced soil abutments and wing walls during a single day under a 43-hour road closure.

A 50m tall Liebherr LTM 11000D crane arrived on site on Friday evening (April 16) and was rigged on the usually busy trunk road in under ten hours.

The first internal beam was sailed and bolted into place at approximately 10.30am and the eighth and final edge beam was installed at 8:30pm, followed by the edge protection works. Multiple GRP (Glassfibre Reinforced Plastic) permanent formwork panels were also installed to the bridge deck throughout the day by the Winvic team.

On Sunday morning, the crane was demobilised and traffic management removed, then the road was reopened on schedule at 3:30pm.

Below are pictures of the crane in action and the beams being installed.

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