Time lapse footage shows a team of 250 people working around the clock to move HS2's 5,600 tonne bridge into place on the outskirts of Kenilworth.

The Coventry to Leamington Spa Railway has been closed to allow the bridge to be moved into place.

The operation to slide the 22 metres long and 11 metres wide bridge into position took five and a half hours, and was completed 27 hours ahead of schedule.

Work began on Saturday (29 July), with 113 metres of the existing rail track and 188 rail sleepers removed by the team.

Then 15,000 cubic metres of ground including hard sandstone material was excavated to create the space for the bridge to be moved into.

It was moved into place using five 3.8 tonne jacks on a sliding surface, designed by specialist civil and structural engineering company Freyssinet, which allowed the bridge to be jacked on a guiding raft slab over a distance of 47 metres.

It moved at around nine meters per hour and was fitted into its final position at 3.30am on Monday 31 July.

The team - working 24/7 - will now backfill around the structure and put the rail track back in place above it, ready for the railway to be re-opened at 8.30 on Sunday (6 August).

The structure will allow the high speed railway to pass underneath the existing Coventry to Leamington Spa line.

In the short term it will also allow construction traffic to pass under this line.

The structure also features an adjoining access bridge for a nearby farmer, which will start construction shortly.

James Briggs, HS2's project manager overseeing the bridge move, said:  "The team have done a brilliant job moving this 5,600 tonne bridge way ahead of schedule, and I'd like to thank everyone for pulling together to deliver such an efficient and safe operation.

The new bridge has been put in place to the north of Kenilworth (image via HS2)

"The bridge was built on-site adjacent to the existing railway – an innovative approach which means it takes days, not months, to safely complete our works, keeping disruption to a minimum for rail passengers.

"This is another great example of HS2's world-leading approach to engineering and shows the vast progress we are making to bring high-speed rail to the Midlands and the North. Over 3,000 UK businesses and almost 30,000 people are helping to build HS2, providing a vital boost to the economy."

HS2's civils contracts Balfour Beatty VINCI is delivering the construction work, and a Design JV of Mott MacDonald and Systra delivered the design.

HS2 Ltd works closely with Network Rail to plan for HS2 works which require access to the existing rail network.

Wherever possible, work programmes are aligned, so HS2 works and Network Rail's ongoing upgrade and maintenance works are delivered simultaneously. 

The bridge moved at around nine meters per hour (image via HS2)

The bridge was moved into place ahead of schedule (image via HS2)