Work has started on the construction of an enormous deck that will help support the platforms at the new station for HS2 at Curzon Street in Birmingham.

The first of 556 reinforced concrete beams, comprising 488 U-beams and 68 narrower L-beams, each between 7 and 34 metres long and weighing between 14 and 58 tonnes, were lifted into position on Friday, 19th June.

The beams are being precast off-site at a factory in Ireland by Shay Murtagh Precast, from where they will be delivered to the site by road, and to avoid traffic, the deliveries will be timed to arrive early in the morning when the roads are quiet.

Curzon Street station will have seven platforms, and most of the platforms’ length will be built on a viaduct-like structure supported by 188 concrete piers to form a huge 13,370 square metre deck. Large crawler cranes will lift most of the beams into position.

To avoid risks when using cranes next to the railway, and allow services to keep running into Birmingham New Street during the work, the 120 beams that are closest to the existing railway lines will be moved into their final position by a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT). This has 96 wheels and is highly manoeuvrable; it lifts the beams from underneath and places them precisely into position.

When it is complete, the station will extend for about 450 metres from Moor Street to Millennium Point, and a new tram stop will be built under the station as part of a new line to Digbeth and Birmingham City’s new football stadium.

At the end of May, the Cross City line between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley stations closed for three days to allow the installation of a viaduct across that line to take place.

“We’ve been making good progress with the construction of the station, but up to now, it’s mostly been beneath the ground – focused on the piling and foundations that will underpin the building. That’s why it’s great to see the first beams in position as we begin to assemble the enormous deck that will support our seven high-speed platforms. Once complete, Curzon Street will become a new gateway to Birmingham, offering easy access to the city centre and connections to onward destinations, via tram, bus and rail, improving journeys and supporting growth across the West Midlands.”

Jonathan Berry, HS2 Ltd’s Project Client for Curzon Street