All the latest news and views.
We welcome the NIC’s latest Infrastructure Progress Review, which explicitly calls for a new long-term plan for rail to address capacity and connectivity issues on the network following the cancellation of HS2’s northern leg. Government’s failure to implement plans for HS2 that have carefully negotiated the Parliamentary approval process is Read more…
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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 Read more…
This latest report from HS2 Ltd – From trains to cranes: HS2 and the West Midlands’ development boom – outlines the economic benefits HS2 is bringing to the West Midlands, specifically the value of regeneration and investment activity close to HS2’s two local stations (Birmingham Curzon Street and Interchange) and Read more…