The High Speed Rail Group exisits to promote the economic, social and environmental benefits of a HSR network in the UK, and we continue to make the case for the rail and infrastructure sector as high-quality places to work – by promoting best practice on employment, diversity, sustainability and wellbeing. Read more…
Although the Coronavirus crisis has been dominating the headlines, environmental challenges have not gone away. The warm weather that is lifting spirits is also leading scientists to predict that 2020 will be the hottest year on record. Indeed, after the lockdown had already started, the DfT launched a radical consultation to inform its Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP). Calling for less car use and making public transport the first choice for daily travel, it represents a huge change from decades of previous policy.
It is important for HS2 now to rise to this opportunity. In her most recent report, Sadie Morgan, the chair of HS2’s independent design panel, called for more evidence and communication on how net zero is driving HS2 Ltd’s decision-making, calling for action from board level to those working on site. Professor Morgan also sits on the National Infrastructure Commission, which is undertaking a Rail Needs Assessment for the Midlands and the North. Clearly making the carbon case will be important for securing approval for Phase 2b and beyond.
The big challenge here is (more…)
The High Speed Rail Group welcome today’s announcement that the Government has issued the formal “Notice to Proceed” (NTP) to allow the construction of HS2 to commence. Following the news, an army of women and men will now set about the task of building Britain’s new north-south railway line with Read more…
Hi, my name is Paddy Tranter, and I am a trainee civil engineer at Eiffage Kier (EK) working on the central sections of phase 1 of HS2. I am 39 years old, so have not come straight out of an educational background. In fact, I previously studied in Archaeology and Read more…
High Speed Rail Group welcomed over thirty apprentices to Eiffage Kier in Birmingham for the launch of a new Apprentice Network. Isabel Coman, Director at High Speed Rail Group, said: “ we are delighted to have launched this new Apprentice Network, which will provide apprentices working on the HS2 project with Read more…
Our members recognise the significant opportunities for industry that the development of high speed rail in Britain can provide. The HS2 project comes at a time when investment in the country is vital in the wake of the Brexit vote. High speed rail has the capability to bring efficiency gains Read more…
HSRIL members WSP are setting new standards for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) as well as skills, employment and education (SEE) across 11 active contracts comprising well over 1,000 people. WSP has worked collaboratively with the workforce and the supply chain to support HS2’s ambitious agenda, which has included the Read more…
Our report HS2 North West Voices brings together a range of influential voices in the North West, outlining the “transformational benefits” HS2 – delivered “all the way” to Glasgow – will bring to the North West economy. Two of the region’s leading Conservative and Labour MPs back the report and say HS2 will ensure the country is “firing on all cylinders”
John Stevenson MP (Conservative, Carlisle) and Lucy Powell MP (Labour, Manchester Central) say:
“HS2 is vital to fundamentally addressing the North-South divide. With inequalities of prosperity and opportunity between the North and the South, connecting London all the way to Glasgow will ensure that every part of our country is firing on all cylinders. HS2 will turn great cities, like Manchester and Carlisle, into inter-connected economic powerhouses, helping us to excel into the 2020s and beyond, and it will tackle the division between North and South, bringing Britain together with the first new North-South railway in a hundred years.”
You can access the full report here: HSR Industry Leaders HS2 North West Voices Report Nov 2019
The report outlines how HS2 will “turbo charge the wider Northern economy (more…)
South Eastern and Hitachi are celebrating a decade of High Speed 1 trains. The service has revolutionised travel for passengers in Kent and helped boost the county’s economy. Launched in 2009 – in the ten years it has operated it has carried 100 million passengers to and from London, with Read more…
London has an escalating homelessness problem, with around 3,500 rough sleepers in the capital between October and December 2018; an increase of 18% year on year. Nearly 650 homeless people have died in London over the last five years and with the life expectancy of rough sleepers around 44 years Read more…