Ordsall Chord
The landmark Ordsall Chord project in Manchester, which directly provides a rail link between Victoria and Piccadilly stations for the first time, is due to open on December 10. ANDY COWARD looks at the history of the project and how it could help to incr
With the £85m Ordsall Chord about to open, RAIL looks at how the new link could increase rail capacity in Manchester.
From the planning stages through to its construction, Network Rail’s Ordsall Chord project in Manchester has taken two years. Now the £ 85 million project is finally finished, and the first trains are due to pass over the new link on December 10.
At 350 metres in length, the Ordsall Chord may be relatively short, but in terms of the engineering complexities and design it is a huge and truly impressive project. It has created a stunning landmark structure which has also solved a problem that has plagued Manchester’s rail network for years.
Working on the outskirts of Manchester, I have closely followed the construction of the new bridge, which carries the Ordsall Chord over the River Irwell and Trinity Way in Manchester.
However, you only get a true appreciation of its scale and complexity from close-up. At a special Network Rail preview event, as I walked across the bridge beneath the eyecatching asymmetrical steel Network Arch, it is clear that a lot of thought and careful design has gone into creating a structure that will be a useful and attractive addition to the Manchester rail map for many future
generations of rail users.
Over the years, RAIL has examined various missing links, where short sections of railway could help to transform journeys for passengers on our ever-congested rail network. Some of these missing links have been reinstated in recent years, while others (such as the Skipton-Colne) are still being actively campaigned for by a growing band of supporters.
In most cases, it means reinstating sections of railway line wiped away during the widespread period of closures following publication in March 1963 of Dr Richard Beeching’s infamous The Reshaping of British
Railways report.
However, in the case of the Ordsall Chord, Network Rail has completed work on a crucial missing link that never existed in the first place, providing for the first time a direct and convenient rail link between the two main railway stations in Manchester, Victoria and Piccadilly.
It’s surprising that a direct link between the stations was not provided during the railway building mania of the mid-19th century. But the Victorian railway companies never built such a link, with journeys between the two stations instead having to take circuitous routes around the city.
It has long been the intention of transport planners to link Piccadilly and Victoria by rail. Now the Ordsall Chord will finally provide a quick and easy connection, and when the new section of line comes into use in December it will open up a range of opportunities to unlock additional capacity in the Manchester rail network.
After the wave of railway closures during the late 1960s and early 1970s, by the mid-1970s British Rail, the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive and Greater Manchester Council were investigating linking Victoria and Piccadilly via tunnels beneath the city streets, to create links between some of the region’s local commuter railway lines.
The plans were modest when compared with the London Underground network,
The Grade 1 listed Stephenson bridge, which carried the railway from Liverpool Road station towards Ordsall Junction, has undergone an extensive refurbishment and restoration, despite the fact that it will never carry a train over it again.
but The Picc-Vic Project (as it became known) was still ambitious in wanting to create a number of routes that would use the city centre tunnel to provide new direct travel opportunities for passengers.
Under the plans, a tunnel would have run from Ardwick Junction to the south of Manchester Piccadilly station, running to Queens Road Junction on the BuryManchester line, with two miles of track built within the tunnels some 60-70 feet below the centre of Manchester. Within the city centre tunnels would be five strategically located underground stations, meaning that passengers using these stations would be within a five-minute walk of anywhere in the city centre.
Such was the confidence that Picc-Vic would become a reality, when construction work was taking place on the Arndale Shopping Centre in the city centre, a specially constructed concrete box was provided beneath the shopping centre in preparation for the proposed Royal Exchange underground station. When the Picc-Vic project was abandoned, so too was the concrete void beneath the Arndale. It remains untouched to this day, although it is still occasionally visited by historians or local journalists relating the story of the underground station that never was.
By the end of 1977, Picc-Vic had been shelved in the face of mounting costs, which had risen dramatically since the project had first been mooted. And when the Conservative-controlled Greater Manchester Council decided not to renew the acquisition powers in connection with the scheme, it finally spelled the end of Picc-Vic and the grand plan to create a rail network for Greater Manchester, linked by an underground tunnel beneath the city streets.
Then, in the 1980s, a new scheme was devised to link the two main stations, although not using conventional trains on traditional heavy rail routes. Looking to continental Europe and beyond, Manchester’s transport authority began campaigning to reintroduce trams onto the streets of Manchester, with tracks linking Victoria and Piccadilly running through the city centre streets. The project was christened Metrolink.
After evaluating several options, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive chose to promote the scheme by converting the Bury to Victoria and the Piccadilly to Altrincham lines, both of which were in need of new rolling stock and re-electrification, as the first phase of Metrolink.
The new trams would deviate off the Bury line at Victoria station, while the Altrincham line would be accessed at Cornbrook Junction, following restoration of disused viaducts that had once served Manchester Central station (now restored as the G-Mex exhibition centre). The street running section would run from Victoria to G-Mex, with a short spur from Piccadilly Gardens to a new undercroft station built beneath Piccadilly station.
In October 1989, following government approval and funding for the tramway project by then-Minister of State for Transport Michael Portillo, work began on laying tracks across the city centre streets, along which trams had not operated since the original Manchester Corporation Tramway had closed in 1949.
Metrolink opened on April 6 1992 between Bury and Victoria, with the first section of city centre tramway opening between Victoria and G-Mex three weeks later. The spur from Piccadilly Gardens to Piccadilly opened in July 1992, providing a convenient light rail link between the two stations, and the tenminute journey by tram between Victoria and Piccadilly stations proved popular with commuters and shoppers alike.
However, while Metrolink had succeeded in providing a direct passenger link between Victoria and Piccadilly stations, it still didn’t solve the problem of a direct heavy rail link between the two stations. It is this problem that has finally been resolved with construction of the Ordsall Chord.
The Ordsall Chord project is part of Network Rail’s Great North Rail Project, which aims to deliver over £1 billion of improvements to the rail network across the North.
As well as directly linking Piccadilly with Victoria for the first time, the Ordsall Chord is promoted as helping to assist in reducing congestion around Piccadilly by 25%, with some services being rerouted to Victoria. New links from the north of England to Manchester Airport will also be the main beneficiaries of the project, while it will also help to provide additional capacity on the rail network around the city.
However, the project was overshadowed during the planning stage when Mark Whitby, the former president of the Institute of Civil Engineers, launched three legal challenges against the planning consent given for the project. These were mainly due to the proximity of the new bridge to the historic Liverpool Road station site, but were dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Network Rail had stated that any deviation of the route away from the planned route would have added millions to the cost of the project, potentially making it unviable.
NR has also been keen to recognise the heritage of the railway network in the area where the new viaduct is located, especially in view of another controversial aspect of the scheme - the loss of the main line rail link to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, which has been severed, leaving the museum landlocked.
The loss of the museum’s rail connection was also historically significant. The museum is home to the Grade 1 listed Manchester Liverpool Road station, which opened on September 15 1830 at the dawn of the railways to serve the then-new Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world’s first inter-city railway line.
Although Liverpool Road station closed after just 14 years as a passenger station, the site had survived in British Rail ownership until the site was taken over by the museum. While the museum also originally objected to the project, agreement was reached between them and Network Rail for the objection to be dropped.
While the Ordsall Chord has severed the main line rail link to the museum, Network Rail and its contractors have worked hard to ensure that the Ordsall Chord project pays tribute to the railway pioneers of the 1830s.
As such, the Grade 1 listed Stephenson bridge, which carried the railway from Liverpool Road station towards Ordsall Junction, has undergone an extensive refurbishment and restoration, despite the fact that it will never carry a train over it again.
The restoration of this bridge, while not a core aspect of the project, has been an important recognition of its historical importance. And the standard of the restoration is very high, providing a sympathetic comparison between one of the oldest railway bridges in the country and the newest.
In November, work on refurbishment of the Stephenson bridge was nearing completion. When finished the bridge will be ballasted (and possibly have rails added at a later date), to remind passengers going over the Ordsall Chord about the importance of the Stephenson bridge in the story of rail travel in Manchester.
Also within the shadow of the new bridge is the former Granada Television Studios and the now derelict Coronation Street set, which after being vacated by ITV Studios in 2013 was a visitor attraction for the following two years. Now stripped out and awaiting demolition, it may be possible to glimpse the rooftops of the famous terraces from a train going over the bridge before they are wiped away forever.
The Granada Studios site is due to be redeveloped as part of a hotel and commercial development, and the entire area is subject to a huge amount of investment and regeneration. Indeed, developers have been waiting for the Network Rail bridge building project to be completed before they can move onto adjacent vacant land, which will soon be transformed with new housing and commercial developments.
Land is at a premium in the area, and there is seemingly no end to the number of new apartments and office blocks springing up around the city. Obviously, an improved rail network can only benefit the future occupiers of these homes and offices, and the Ordsall Chord will clearly assist with this.
The most eye-catching aspect of the project is the Network Arch, the world’s first asymmetrical railway arch with a complicated design that follows the natural curve of the line perfectly. The steelwork for the arch was installed in February, creating a distinctive new landmark for Manchester.
One of the aspects of the project that has created a lot of opinion is the decision to allow the steelwork of the bridge to rust naturally, rather than be of a painted finish.
Questioned about the natural finish to the steelwork, architect Peter Jenkins from BDP told the Manchester
Evening News: “This is because it relates to the materials around it - all the fantastic heritage structures made out of stone and brick. Those materials don’t have a perfect surface, bricks can be different colours, the stone of Stephenson’s Bridge is three different colours. We wanted the arch to contrast and also complement them - there isn’t a perfect colour finish or texture, and we were keen to have that richness.”
Love it or loathe it, the orange hue of the newly rusted steelwork is expected to deepen in colour over the next few years, when it is expected to take on more of a reddish-brown natural shade that will blend more into its surroundings.
The amount of corrosion to the steelwork from natural weathering has been calculated during the design phase, and it is not expected to cause any major issues in terms of the longevity of the bridge. It is also deemed to be more cost-effective than having to regularly repaint the structure, and general ease of maintenance has been a major factor in the overall design. The contrast between the rust of the steelwork and the pristine light grey of the concrete will be toned down with ageing.
Network Rail Project Director Chris Montgomery tells RAIL that all the signalling, trackwork and overhead electrification equipment had been commissioned in early November, and that the main outstanding task before the Chord could be brought into use was completion of the necessary paperwork.
While the Network Arch and the huge concrete and steel viaduct make up the Ordsall Chord, Network Rail has also undertaken massive track remodelling and resignalling projects around Victoria, Salford and Ordsall Junction in preparation for the opening of the new link.
The project has been about so much more than merely building a landmark bridge, and the designers, contractors and Network Rail are justifiably proud that they have managed to deliver the project on time and on budget, less than two years after construction work began.
In November, even though the Ordsall Chord itself was complete, work still remained on landscaping of the areas surrounding the construction site and along Trinity Way in Manchester. Despite such a major project crossing this busy road on the outskirts of the city centre, traffic management has been well co-ordinated with very little disruption to motorists from road closures during the construction phase.
The project’s completion was marked by a special ceremony on November 9, when Rail Minister Paul Maynard visited the site and installed the final clip and inspected the new structure. He was joined by a host of local dignitaries and stakeholders who have been actively involved in the project, among them
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
“Greater Manchester has long called for the Ordsall Chord to unlock capacity on the rail network across the North, and it is great that we can finally celebrate its completion,” said Burnham.
“This is an impressive engineering project and I would like to thank everyone who has worked on it and contributed to the ongoing regeneration of our city region.
“The iconic Network Arch bridge will create a new landmark on the Manchester skyline. It harks back to the glory days of rail investment and stands just yards from the site of the world’s first ever railway station. Just as Manchester pioneered rail travel in the 19th century, I hope we can lead the development of the next generation of infrastructure in the 21st.
“A modern, well-connected rail network is vital to unlocking the full economic potential of our city region and the whole of the north of England. I look forward to working with the Government and Network Rail to deliver the further capacity improvements that will realise the full value of the Ordsall Chord.”
From December 10, one train an hour will operate over the bridge in each direction, although this will be increased from the start of the New Year and then again when the next timetable change is introduced. The opening of the Ordsall Chord will help to increase capacity around the terminus platforms at Piccadilly, although to a certain extent this will also be to the detriment of the already congested through platforms at the station.
The Ordsall Chord has the potential to be a real asset to the rail map around Manchester, but it is only part of the solution. Its creation will also put additional pressure on the already congested corridor between Manchester Oxford Road and Piccadilly, with services using the Chord also having to utilise Platforms 13 and 14 at Piccadilly, the only two through platforms to serve the station. Some services may be diverted towards Victoria, but for those which need to call at Victoria, Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations, they must make use of the through platforms at Piccadilly.
While Network Rail has previously announced its intention to create another two through platforms at Piccadilly, along with widening the corridor towards Oxford Road, funding for this work has not yet been released.
Whether this work happens in the future remains to be seen, but without it, it is hard to see how the Ordsall Chord can ever realise its true potential.
It is hoped that completion of this landmark project can help to kick start the other rail improvements that will future-proof the rail network around Manchester before HS2 arrives in the city. The clock is ticking.
A modern, well-connected rail network is vital to unlocking the full economic potential of our city region and the whole of the north of England. Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Mayor