Page 304 - 2018 DIGITAL BROCHURE

White City Development

You have assembled the new bridge alongside the new one. Now it must be moved, on Teflon pads,
25 metres into the slot over a railway line. All this to be com-
pleted over a long weekend, without closing the tube lines
running beneath!

This is exactly what happened between 29th July and 1st Au-
gust 2005 at the viaduct carrying the Hammersmith & City
Line over Wood Lane in West London.

The biggest in-town shopping centre in Europe, with over
200 retails outlets, is being developed at White City by
Westfield Shopping Towns Ltd with Multiplex as principle
contractor. It is being built over 16 Central Line sidings which are being re-sited underground and
the bridge was needed to provide a feeder line.

A team led by Multiplex Manager John Bradly, Costain's Paul Snelson and Metronet's Graham Free-
ston, undertook the major engineering and logistical task in just four days. Not surprisingly, during
the operation it was necessary to close the Hammersmith & City Line, which uses the bridge, as well
as a stretch of Wood Lane but Central Line trains continued running beneath, protected from falling
masonry by specially constructed crash decks.

At midnight on 29th July the team set about removing the old rails and ballast from the bridge. Later
that night they lifted heavy machinery on the bridge and started demolishing the old viaduct and
arch. Demolition took nearly two days, including cutting the old steelwork. On 31st July the new
bridge was manouvered into place, the rails re laid, ballast
replaced and signals reconnected.

Finally everything was tested and inspected, the site cleared
and the bridge and the road reopened allowing London Un-
derground to resume normal operation precisely on 2nd Au-
gust.

Natural Cement Distribution Ltd's SHOTCRETE was used to
stabilise the face of the viaduct after the demolition and be-
cause of its flow characteristics and high early strength
GROUT 105 was used to lock the bridge into the cross head beams.
Phil Todd, Multiplex Rail Director said: "The success of the project depended on every detail being
perfectly planned, and the management team were delighted with the outcome. We want to thank eve-
ryone who has worked on the viaduct and bridge-slide operation, both over the weekend and during
the months of operation."