The railway between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe re-opened earlier this month after four consecutive weekends of work to replace a road bridge over the West Coast main line, using a huge 1,000-tonne crane.

Network Rail worked round-the-clock over four weekends to remove the concrete arched bridge on Sydney Road.

Time-lapse cameras filmed the demolition of the old structure and the lifting into place of the steelwork for its “bigger and better replacement”; the nine steel beams that now span the railway will form the base of the new road bridge.

The project is being delivered by Network Rail on behalf of Cheshire East Council; it will replace the single-lane road bridge with a structure that is wide enough for two-way traffic plus safer routes for cyclists and pedestrians.

Chris Atkins, scheme project manager for Network Rail (www.network.co..uk), said: “We have reached a major milestone in the project to replace Sydney Road bridge in Crewe.

“The old bridge has been removed, and all the major steelwork has been installed, which means that the remaining works can be completed without further disruption to passengers.”