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Ordsall Chord

Facts

Location Client Completion
Manchester, UK Network Rail 2018

Project details

A new section of railway now connects Manchester’s Piccadilly and Victoria stations for the first time. It is a key part of the Northern Hub project which unlocks railway routes, improves connections and provides faster journey times across the north of England with Manchester at its centre.

The Ordsall Chord is a series of new bridges and viaducts in one of the most important sites in the history of the railway, adjacent to Liverpool Road Station which was the first passenger railway station in the world.

Central to the design is the world’s first asymmetric network arch bridge which crosses the River Irwell and sits alongside an 1830 bridge by pioneering rail engineer George Stephenson which has been painstakingly renovated.

Landscaping and lighting to public spaces and heritage features beneath the bridges and viaducts tie the scheme into the surrounding urban fabric.

It’s so important, a project which will link Victoria and Piccadilly for the first time and a scheme which is intrinsically linked to the whole northern programme that will bring faster, and more frequent trains between all the major cities in the north, between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds and will create jobs and growth.

Chris Montgomery programme director for Network Rail North of England

Brief

  • improve operational infrastructure to facilitate better connections and faster journey times across the north of England
  • respect and complement historic Grade I and Grade II listed buildings affected by the new railway infrastructure

Results

  • a new section of railway connecting Piccadilly and Victoria stations for the first time
  • a striking new heart for the Northern Hub
  • 16 Awards including RIBA National Award and Royal Academy of Engineering’s Major Project Award

Integrated services

masterplanning, architecture, lighting, landscape architecture