VIDEO | Beams arrive for £22m Castleton rail bridge

Travelling more than 200 miles from Newbridge, Ireland to Rochdale, two 70-tonne steel beams are now ready to be put into place as part of Network Rail’s initiative.

The 42-metre beams will be used to construct a replacement rail bridge over the M62. The bridge is set to be assembled 20-23 September, with the current bridge being dismantled the 6-9 September.

You can watch the beams’ journey in a video produced by Network Rail below.

John Murphy & Son is the main contractor for the scheme, which is necessary due to safety concerns regarding the current bridge. The bridge is crossed by around 3,000 rail freight services a year, carrying 6% of the UK’s energy supply thanks to its link to the Drax power station in Selby.

The new bridge is set to be a like-for-like replacement of its predecessor. You can learn more about it by searching 23/00744/PRA56 on Rochdale Council’s planning portal.

Network Rail is working with National Highways and Transport for Greater Manchester to help alleviate the disruption the bridgeworks will cause travellers.

The section of the M62 between J18 and J20 on the eastbound carriageway and J19 and J20 on the westbound will be closed during the two aforementioned weekends in September. The motorway is also going to be reduced to three lanes until 18 October.

There will also not be rail services between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale from 6 September until the morning of 25 September. Rail replacement busses will be running.