The Ordsall Chord

I left for work earlier than needed - my start for the day was in Manchester, so I thought I would stop en route for a blip.

The decision on the Ordsall Chord was announced last week, following a public inquiry last year. Far too complicated to explain here, suffice to say for the first time Victoria, Oxford Rd and Piccadilly stations are going to be linked up, freeing up a major rail bottleneck in Manchester and the north of England (it is the key move in"the Northern Hub"). The chord involves a new 350 m rail viaduct and bridge which will cross the Inner Ring Rd and the Irwell - a massive piece of new infrastructure.

However - the sun was in the wrong direction, and taking a picture of something that isn't yet there was a bit challenging.

Then a few rowers came by. I am standing on Princes Bridge (which will be demolished) The massive double stone bridge behind the rower will stay. It is Grade 1 listed, attributed to George Stephenson, and with the nearby former passenger station, also of 1830, the earliest railway infrastructre surviving anywhere. It is almost wholly concealed at present by a later bridge which sits in front, it will be good to see it revealed.

The downside - the old rail links to MOSI (including on the stone bridge, which the steam train uses) will be severed, forever breaking the link between the old station site and the national rail network.