Ordsall Chord project delivers 1,600-tonne asymmetric rail bridge in 'world first'

Work on a civil engineering rail project that connects Manchester’s Piccadilly and Victoria stations for the first time reached completion today (November 9).

The Manchester office of architecture firm BDP played a central role in the Ordsall Chord development, which comprises 300m of track and a series of new bridges and viaducts.

BDP designed elements of the scheme in collaboration with engineers from Parsons Brinckerhoff, Aecom and Mott MacDonald.

As well as linking Manchester Piccadilly with Victoria, the Ordsall Chord has unlocked additional routes and looks set to improve connections and journey times across the North.

The project created new and direct links from the North to Manchester Airport, enabling faster and more frequent trains under Network Rail’s £1bn+ Great North Rail Project.

Work undertaken by BDP’s Manchester team included designing all the project’s major architectural and urban realm elements, such as landscaping and lighting within public spaces and heritage features under the bridges and viaducts.

BDP also advised on the development of the rail alignment and helped create designs for each of the main structures. This included designing the 89m-wide centrepiece of the Ordsall Chord project – the world’s first asymmetric rail bridge.

Image: Architect Peter Jenkins’ original sketch for the 1,600-tonne bridge

The bridge, which will take trains across the River Irwell, started out with simple sketches produced by BDP transport architect director Peter Jenkins. His drawings were used as the basis for the 1,600-tonne structure developed by the wider project team.

Peter Jenkins said: “BDP’s holistic design solution integrates railway infrastructure, heritage assets and local regeneration which places railway infrastructure at the heart of a new urban community.

“This project has had significant historic issues to manage, with a series of viaducts and bridges arcing around past Liverpool Road Station, the first passenger railway station in the world and an 1830 bridge by pioneering rail engineer George Stephenson.”

He continued: “In total there are three Grade I-listed and 21 Grade II-listed structures on or around the site, which show the importance of this location in the global history of passenger railways. We have designed the first asymmetric network arch bridge in the world alongside the first passenger railway in the world.

“Stephenson’s Bridge was neglected and disused before the Ordsall Chord. Now it can be celebrated for its character and importance.”

Network Rail route managing director Martin Frobisher commented: “The completion of Ordsall Chord is a seminal moment in the Great North Rail Project, which will transform train travel for millions of customers across the North.

“The old is giving birth to the new. We are mirroring the vision of George Stephenson for the benefit of the communities we serve for generations to come.”