Our latest report states that a comprehensive long-term strategy to develop the UK’s inter urban rail network is essential for future economic growth and achieving net zero. The report urges political figures on all sides to look beyond HS2 and take a fresh approach in order to maximise the vast potential of high speed rail development in the UK. High Speed Rail Exploiting the Potential outlines five recommendations for the next Government which, if implemented, would deliver the new rail capacity and connectivity which the UK desperately needs to grow sustainably. From cancelling the section ..read more

Economic analysis of the areas close to HS2’s three hubs in the West Midlands – Curzon Street Station in central Birmingham, Interchange Station in Solihull, and the Washwood Heath Depot and Network Integrated Control Centre – shows dramatic increases in regeneration and investment in the last six years. Since Royal Assent was granted for the railway in 2017, the number of planning applications seen in a 1.5 mile radius around these three major HS2 hubs has increased by two-thirds. Over the same timescale, the area of total planned floorspace – including commercial and residential – has increa ..read more

The second giant boring machine (TBM) building HS2 under the Chiltern Hills has now broken through at the tunnel’s northern portal, completing a journey that began in June 2021. Named Cecilia, the TBM has driven for 10 miles underground to join twin sister machine – Florence. She arrived at the site near the Buckinghamshire town of Wendover on 27 February, after completing her adjacent tunnel drive. Between them, the two 2,000 tonne machines have built the twin bore tunnel at depths of up to 80 metres and excavated three million cubic metres of chalk. Each machine operates like an underground ..read more

HS2 designers and engineers working on five key viaducts have cut their carbon footprint by up to two thirds (66%) by adopting an innovative ‘double composite’ structure which uses significantly less concrete and steel than a more traditional design. HS2 engineers at Westbury on the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border have already begun sliding the second of the new viaduct decks into position.  The team rolled out the more efficient design to four viaducts in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Northants following the early success of HS2’s first double composite viaduct at nearby Wendo ..read more

HS2 has revealed new images of the project’s largest ‘green bridge’, which will cross the high-speed railway near Brackley. The bridge will cross one of the railway’s longest and deepest cuttings, which will stretch for 1.5 miles past the village of Turweston on the edge of Buckinghamshire and West Northants. The 99m-wide bridge is designed to take a local road over the new railway with new hedgerows and vegetation planted on top to create a space for wildlife. It will also carry a footpath and bridleway. Green bridges are an increasingly common sight above new railways and motorways on the c ..read more

The first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), launched almost 3 years ago, broke through under the Chilterns recently, having excavated the longest tunnel on HS2 at 16km. TBM Florence is one of 10 machines excavating the 32 miles of tunnel on the new railway linking London Euston with Birmingham and was the first to launch, in May 2021. Designed specifically for the geology under the Chilterns, each TBM is an underground factory – excavating the tunnel, lining it with 56,000 pre-cast concrete segments and grouting them into place as it moves forward at an average speed of 16m per day. Both machines ..read more

HS2’s third tunnel boring machine (TBM) has now been launched and will bore 3.4 miles under Ealing from Victoria Road Crossover Box, near HS2’s new Old Oak Common station, to Greenpark Way in Greenford. London Tunnels contractor, Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture, assembled the TBM underground at the Victoria Road site after being lifted in parts and lowered into a shaft. TBM Emily, named after Emily Sophia Taylor who helped establish the Perivale Maternity Hospital in 1937 before becoming Ealing’s first female mayor in 1938, will be used to dig almost half of the 8.4-mile Northolt Tunnel ..read more

HS2 has moved the first huge viaduct section into place over the motorway network in North Warwickshire, a milestone for the project’s Delta Junction as HS2 reaches peak construction in the region. Contractors have used a specialist push-pull technique to move the 84 metre, 300 tonne steel viaduct section into place over the westbound link road between the M6 and M42 near Coleshill. This is the first of two moves to install the deck for HS2’s ‘East Link Viaduct’, which is part of the triangular Delta Junction. The second operation will create the full 158 metre long composite deck over bo ..read more

HS2’s civils contractors have doubled their total spend with SMEs – companies with 250 or fewer employees – in 2022/23 when compared to the previous financial year. Small and medium sized businesses account for over 70% of HS2’s supply chain and this year shared in the £942m spend, which is a significant increase on the £456m total spend in the previous year. From the outset of the project, robust targets were put in place to ensure UK-based SMEs would benefit from HS2’s construction programme. HS2 contractors, through their own procurement processes, embraced the challenge and as a result, al ..read more

Sarah Curlett is a Level 3 Rail Engineering Apprentice with Alstom, and has recently joined the High Speed Rail Group’s Apprentice Network. Can you describe your role in a few words? I am a mechanical and electrical fitter, which means that I move around the depot working on different things such as the modernisation of the class 390 Pendolino train, and also on the jubilee line module overhaul and the testing of products. What were you doing prior to your Apprenticeship? I started my apprenticeship at 16 straight from school so prior to my apprenticeship I was completing my GCSEs. What was y ..read more