HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct construction solution project, partnered with Keyline

Products used: Bespoke Precast Concrete - Cable Troughing

Project location: Colne Valley, West Yorkshire

Project type: Rail Infrastructure

Ibstock’s Rail & Infrastructure team has met the bespoke needs of a section of the HS2 project, featuring a 3.4km viaduct across the Colne Valley.

The Central 1 (C1) section of HS2 is being delivered by the Align JV, comprising Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine, and Volker Fitzpatrick. This area includes a network of lakes and waterways stretching between Hillingdon and the M25 on the northwest outskirts of London. Once completed, the viaduct will be the longest railway bridge in the UK, extending nearly a kilometre longer than Scotland’s iconic Forth Road Bridge.

Ibstock’s Rail & Infrastructure team collaborated closely with Keyline & Align to engineer an innovative trackside drainage system, ultimately delivering a tailor-made solution to meet complex requirements. This involved the manufacture of specially adapted existing Ibstock Concrete Cable Troughing units that were to be installed either side of the line running across the viaduct. One trough carries high-voltage cables, another houses low-voltage cables, and a third serves as part of a drainage system.

Neil Cross, Ibstock’s National Sales Manager, commented: "This was one of our largest orders to date involving over 20km of troughing units. The work undertaken demonstrates the company’s ability to deliver technical solutions that meet detailed and often complex customer requirements, within agreed timeframes. Numerous planning and update meetings were held between Ibstock’s Rail & Infrastructure team, Keyline and Align to ensure that the project’s specification requirements were met and to ensure everything was on track at each stage of delivery. "

Our technical team met the strict specification parameters laid down by Align JV and implemented innovative revisions to an existing Troughing designs to meet the specific requirements of the viaduct.

Regular meetings enabled early identification of any tweaks that were needed to update the design. The three-trough concept was created so that the first two housed the electric cables, while rainwater would run off their lids into the third trough, acting as a drainage system.

Ibstock’s Rail & Infrastructure team were awarded the contract for our technical capabilities and production capacity. Additionally, we were already supplying a range of products to the HS2 project and, as part of the HS2 framework, it helped streamline material and supplier approvals.

Neil continued, “We first started discussing the project in late 2022, with work commencing in the second half of 2023. The majority of the installation was completed last year. By working collaboratively with Keyline and Align, we were able to find a bespoke solution to a challenging design problem and refine the product to fulfil all requirements. The seamless installation highlights the crucial value of collaboration in the infrastructure sector.”