Road and rail customers, and local residents, are being thanked after demolition work for the £60m (€71m) Clifton Bridge replacement was completed successfully. The project involved removing the 1960s-built structure spanning six lanes of the M6 near Penrith and installing a brand-new 130-metre-long bridge. The work, part of upgrades on the West Coast Main Line, Europe’s busiest mixed traffic route, required two unprecedented full weekend motorway closures and a complex, precision engineering operation.
The new bridge was carefully manoeuvred into place this weekend using specialist machines with more than 600 wheels. Despite sub-zero temperatures and challenging weather, the M6 reopened 13 hours ahead of schedule, allowing diversionary routes to be lifted earlier than planned. Once final checks are complete, railway teams will reconnect overhead power lines, signalling and track to reopen the West Coast Main Line fully by Thursday.
Engineering feat completed with millimetre precision
Network Rail and principal contractor Skanska removed the old bridge in early January after a full closure of the M6 between junctions 39 and 40. A fleet of the country’s largest excavators chipped away at the concrete structure over 60 hours, demonstrating the scale and complexity of the operation. The new bridge, pre-built and waiting offsite, was installed in a single three-hour lift on Saturday morning using self-propelled modular transporters.
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 reopened over half a day ahead of schedule to alleviate pressure on local roads.”
Motorists and communities are thanked for their patience
Steve Mason, National Highways programme delivery manager, said: “We’d like to once again thank motorists, and particularly local residents, for their patience and support while these works have been ongoing. Reopening the M6 13 hours early is a tremendous achievement. Despite severe weather conditions, the teams involved worked tirelessly to deliver this vital, one-in-a-lifetime project to future-proof one of the most important railway lines in the country.”
Rosario Barcena, Skanska UK rail programme director, added: “It’s been achieved thanks to our whole team, including our amazing supply chain partners. They’ve worked tirelessly across the weekend to successfully install the new Clifton railway bridge, a hugely complex and precise operation, and now re-open the motorway.”
Final checks underway ahead of rail reopening
With the bridge now installed, final inspections are taking place today before track, overhead power lines and signalling are reinstated. The West Coast Main Line will fully reopen by 5am on Thursday, 15 January, allowing normal services between Oxenholme and Carlisle.
Passenger traffic, particularly the Avanti West Coast long-distance timetable, is being replaced by buses or diverted via the parallel Settle-Carlisle route. Freight traffic is mainly going via the East Coast Main Line, which has been used as a diversionary route in the past. The £60m project forms part of a £400m, four-year investment programme along the London-to-Cumbria corridor.