London Thames Gateway's Newest Landmark

A new landmark has appeared as a "gateway" to east London, and it took Britain's biggest mobile crane to lift and lower it into place. The huge engineering feat took place last weekend, when the 350-tonne steel structure was carefully slotted across Shoreditch High Street, at the former Bishopsgate rail goods terminal.

In two years, the 100 ft bridge will carry the new railway extension to the East London line from Whitechapel to Dalston.

The extended East London line reopens in early 2010 as part of the new London overground network, which took over the North London service in November. The £1 billion scheme will enable passengers, including commuters, to travel directly from Dalston Junction all the way down to West Croydon, through Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Wapping and under the Thames to New Cross and beyond.

New stops are being added at Shoreditch High Street, Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Junction. These are not so much new stations as old ones coming back to life. The new extension runs along the disused Kingsland viaduct that carried the Old Broad Street mainline railway, along with the original Dalston Junction station. There were also stations at Shoreditch (opposite St Leonard's Church) and Haggerston which closed in the 1940s.

The new 'bow string' bridge, shaped like a massive archer's bow, was put together on the site of the demolished Bishopsgate goodsyard. From there, it was manoeuvred into position and is the latest example of improving transport links in the region.