The final preparations are being made ahead of a major project to replace a 137-metre-long railway bridge over the M6.
Network Rail will demolish the existing West Coast Main Line bridge between junctions 39 and 40 near Penrith and replace it with a new structure as part of a £60m project.
While the work is carried out, the M6 is due to be closed to motorists between the two junctions from 8pm on Friday, January 2 until 5am on Monday, January 5, and 8pm on Friday, January 9 until 5am on Monday, January 12.
Carlisle-headquartered Peacock Precision Services has supported Tier 1 building and civils contractor Kilnbridge in setting out the site for the past three months to get it ready for the new bridge to be manoeuvred into place.
Kieron Peacock, the company’s Managing Director, said: “It’s been a privilege to provide engineering services on such a major project, and an honour to be asked by Kilnbridge and Skanska to carry out this important work.
“It has been a real team effort working in partnership with some of the UK’s largest contractors, and everyone involved has played their part to getting the site ready in time.
“Our team makes sure everything is prepared to the exact measurements on the drawings so the bridge can be smoothly lowered into place. There is no room for error; everything needs to be accurate to the nearest millimetre.
“The reason Peacock Precision Services invests in the highest value engineering equipment is to guarantee the levels of precision and accuracy essential to ensuring there are no delays in high-profile projects such as this.”
Peacock Precision operates across the UK and works across the highways, railway, housing, public sector and retail industries.
Kieron, who founded the company in 2018, has vast experience of working on bridges with the latest project his 73rd of this kind he has been involved with.
He said: “Replacing a bridge is typically a huge undertaking, and making sure everything is accurate to the exact scale is of paramount importance.
“It is always interesting working on big projects and the new railway bridge over the M6 will benefit hundreds of rail users every day.”
During the motorway closures, National Highways will implement road layout changes at Junction 40 and the nearby A66 Kemplay Bank roundabout.
Rail journeys will also be disrupted during the works with no trains running on the West Coast Main Line from Oxenholme to Carlisle between December 31 and January 15.
