News - Hs2
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Sources say land bought for train route north of Birmingham unlikely to be sold before polls, paving way for projects revival. A Labour government will have the option of reviving the northern legs of the HS2 rail project, after it emerged it is very unlikely that any land bought by the government for the route will be sold off before the election.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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HS2 scrapped, ticket office closures, rail strikes and Flying Scotsman's centenary - it's been quite the year. Join us as we take a look back over 2023's biggest stories in the world of British railways.
(Permalink) Flying Scotsman HS2 Year in review |
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The construction of HS2s longest tunnels - stretching for 10 miles under the Chilterns - passed a key milestone this week with mining completed for 19 out of 38 emergency cross-passages linking the northbound and southbound tunnels.
(Permalink) Chiltern Tunnel HS2 |
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Engineers want to set up giant oven at HS2 boring sites to create calcined clay mix for use in foundations and platforms. The recent announcement that HS2 may still extend to Euston station instead of terminating in the suburbs could be good news for a group of scientific alchemists planning to conjure concrete from London clay. The boring for HS2 will produce more than a million tonnes of waste overall, and that clay will need to be carted away on the surface.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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The Rail Freight Group has condemned the governments decision to truncate High Speed 2 in the West Midlands, describing it as the worst possible outcome for rail freight.
(Permalink) HS2 Railfreight |
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The northern leg of the HS2 rail project has been scrapped, with the billions of pounds saved to be ploughed into transport improvements across the UK.
(Permalink) A75 Cairnryan Castle Douglas Gretna HS2 Newton Stewart Port Road Stranraer  Castle Douglas: Standard 2-6-4T 80117 at Castle Douglas with a Dumfries to Kirkcudbright service in April 1965.  Newton Stewart: 2P 40623 with Black 5 45432 at Newton Stewart on 16 July 1956 with the 10.58 am ex-Stranraer. |
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A future Labour government would not be able to easily reverse Rishi Sunak's decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2 as he has spitefully authorised the sale of properties that were subject to compulsory purchase orders on part of the route. Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool city region, said the move killed HS2 stone dead and would tie any future governments hands and make the delivery of HS2 for the north all but impossible.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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Grimshaw's London Euston HS2 station will be shrunk to just six platforms under Rishi Sunak's latest vision for the flagging project.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston |
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Prime minister Rishi Sunak has promised to 'upgrade' the 'energy coast' line from Carlisle, Workington and Barrow in his key not speech at the Conservative Party Conference.
(Permalink) Barrow Carlisle HS2 Workington |
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It's been more than a decade in the making and was supposed to help connect English cities like never before. Now, delayed, over budget and more controversial than ever, HS2 ambitions have hit the buffers. Rumours have been swirling for weeks that the Manchester to Birmingham leg would be scrapped and that the fate of the line between Euston and Old Oak Common was hanging in the balance. Now as the Conservative party conference is in full swing ironically in a former Manchester railway station the speculation that Sunak is finally going to confirm the rumours has hit fever pitch. And it has caused an outpouring of anger from politicians in the North and Midlands, such as Manchester's mayor, Andy Burnham.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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Abandoning high-speed rail in the north of England would be an appalling dereliction of responsibility risking tens of thousands of jobs and the final nail in the coffin for levelling up, political and business leaders have warned.
(Permalink) HS2 'Levelling up' |
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The mayor of Greater Manchester has urged ministers to talk to leaders in the north of England before scrapping HS2 and leaving it with Victorian infrastructure for the rest of the century. Andy Burnham said he and the leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, would be writing to Rishi Sunak to say that while a re-phasing of the rail project may be possible, cancelling the section to Manchester would create a north-south chasm.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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Kier Group has agreed to acquire substantially all the rail assets of Buckingham Group Contracting, including High Speed 2 contracts.
(Permalink) Buckingham Group Contracting HS2 Kier Group |
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Hitachi Rail has become the worlds first train manufacturer to attain the rigorous PAS 2080 carbon reduction standard for the design, manufacture, and operations of the 100% electric HS2 fleet.
(Permalink) HS2 Hitachi Rail PAS 2080 |
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Designs for the station have been awarded the Outstanding BREEAM rating, uprated from previous excellent ratingThe award puts the new station in the top 1% of UK buildings for eco-friendly status.
(Permalink) HS2 Old Oak Common |
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Three more platforms could be cut from Grimshaw's Euston HS2 terminus. Grimshaw's London Euston HS2 station could be shortened to seven platforms, a leaked document suggests.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston |
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The HS2 rail project was last week given an unachievable rating by the official infrastructure watchdog. A red rating was assigned to the plans for the construction of the first two phases of the high-speed line, from London to Birmingham and then on to Crewe in Cheshire, by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA).
(Permalink) HS2 |
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Great British Railway Journeys to feature HS2's first completed tunnel in Warwickshire. Journalist, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo visited HS2's Long Itchington Wood site to film inside the tunnel. It will be aired in the Long Itchington to Moseley episode on BBC Two at 6.30pm on Wednesday 19 July.
(Permalink) Great British Railway Journeys HS2 Long Itchington Wood |
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The estimated £4.8bn cost of HS2s endangered Euston terminus could balloon further unless the government becomes clear what it is trying to achieve, the public accounts committee has warned. In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to establish the design and expectations for the station against what it was willing to spend, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus.
(Permalink) Department for Transport HS2 London Euston |
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Human remains from St James's Gardens, Euston, reinterred at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, Prayer service held to mark completion of new memorial.
(Permalink) Brookwood Cemetery HS2 London Euston St James's Gardens |
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HS2 has celebrated moving 10 million tonnes of material by rail by unveiling a new mini model of the Green Progressor - the famous locomotive which is helping reduce transport emissions on HS2.
(Permalink) Green Progressor HS2 Hornby |
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On first anniversary of the start of deck construction for the UK's longest railway bridge, HS2 reveals first enormous lake piers that will carry the 2 mile (3.4km) viaduct across a series of waterways on the outskirts of London. In pictures - highlights from the first year of deck construction.
(Permalink) Colne Valley Viaduct HS2 |
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HS2 have completed the first concrete pour in the west box at Old Oak Common Station Excavation of the £850m underground box has now reached track level in some areas.
(Permalink) HS2 Old Oak Common |
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NAO warns cost of station in London almost double initial budget and pause on work could push it higher. The cost of HS2s revised and postponed London Euston terminus has almost doubled to £4.8bn since 2020, according to the the public spending watchdog, with millions wasted on botched decisions. The government announced last month that work on the high-speed lines central London station would be paused. But the National Audit Office warned on Monday that the move would lead to additional costs and potentially higher costs overall.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston |
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Interactive exhibition is open from 15th March to 23rd April at St James's Church, PiccadillyThe lives of Londoners buried in St James's Gardens, Euston, revealed as part of HS2s archaeology programme.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston St James's Gardens |
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The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has moved to quash speculation that HS2 trains would not run to central London, saying he did not see any conceivable circumstances in which the planned Euston terminus would not go ahead. It had been reported that the high-speed rail network could instead terminate permanently in the western suburbs of the capital, stopping short of central London to save money.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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In a huge feat of engineering, HS2 Ltd has delivered the worlds longest box slide to move a 12,600 tonne bridge into place over the M42 in Warwickshire. The innovative method dramatically cuts disruption to road users and is part of HS2s plan to reduce the impact of construction on local communities. 450 people worked on the operation during the Christmas week - the quietest time on the roads.
(Permalink) HS2 |
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Two of the UK's biggest infrastructure projects celebrated a joint milestone this week after a new bridge - that will carry direct rail services between Oxford and Cambridge - was lifted into position over the route of HS2, the high speed rail line under construction between London, Birmingham and the North.
(Permalink) Calvert Cambridge HS2 Oxford |
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The 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine Dorothy sets off for second tunnel drive under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire. The first one-mile tunnel bore was completed in July this year the first breakthrough on the HS2 project.
(Permalink) HS2 Long Itchington Wood TBM |
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HS2s Community & Environment Fund has provided a £75,000 grant to restore the Darnford Moors section of the canal, transforming the area into a wildlife haven. [The route of HS2 passes nearby. -RS]
(Permalink) Darnford Moors HS2 Lichfield Canal  Darnford Moors [Lich C]: Peter Buck (Engineering) and Carole Mills (Chair) at Darnford Moors.
Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust (LHCRT) has been awarded £116,200 to create an ecology park at Darnford M ... |
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Local community encouraged to come along to feedback events, which begin on Wednesday 30 November. HS2 Ltd release new images that show more elements of the iconic station design.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston |
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Successive prime ministers have lacked the courage to end this vanity project. Is Rishi Sunak any different? In April 2020, the then chancellor Rishi Sunak gave his approval to a new railway to Birmingham, expected to cost £44bn. Contracts were promptly signed. The overall HS2 project is estimated at £100bn. An infuriated Whitehall official told me at the time: Never let that man say he cannot afford any item of public expenditure. The ambition was soon trimmed. HS2 will no longer go to Yorkshire, only to Birmingham and Manchester. A 10-year-old plan for Euston station, on which more than £100m has already been spent, must be radically redesigned. Rail passenger numbers even in the Midlands have fallen, leaving HS2 largely to benefit commuters into Birmingham and from London's home counties.
(Permalink) HS2 Opinion |
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£105m Euston HS2 station design work can no longer be used, DfT admits. The Department for Transport (DfT) has revealed 'significant elements' of original design work on HS2's Euston station 'can no longer be used' after the decision was taken to scale back the Grimshaw-led scheme.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston |
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HS2's first Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) excavating HS2s longest tunnels have completed the first 4 miles of their drive from the Chiltern tunnels south portal to the second ventilation shaft at Chalfont St Giles.
(Permalink) Chiltern Tunnels HS2 TBM  Chiltern Tunnels: Tunnel boring machines 'Florence' and 'Cecilia' have reached a 4 mile point at Chalfont St Giles. |
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Massive Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) in Warwickshire becomes first on the HS2 project to complete its full journey undergroundThe first bore of the one-mile tunnel under Long Itchington Wood has been dug in seven months.
(Permalink) HS2 Long Itchington Wood TBM Tunnel |
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From 2025, commuters can expect two extra trains every hour between Manchester and York and journey times up to 40% shorter. Train services in the north of England are to be given triple the intended investment after the government announced the first part of its £96bn integrated rail plan. The multibillion pound plan announced last November pledged to deliver faster train journeys more quickly than the original plans for the HS2 eastern leg and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
(Permalink) HS2 Manchester Northern Powerhouse Rail York |
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HS2's ambitions for a new Grimshaw-designed station at Euston were downgraded from world-class to highly functional and affordable, according to board papers.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston |
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Designs celebrate local heritage and include landscaped habitats, renewable energy, electric vehicle parking, cycling and pedestrian pathways. The new facility will create around 550 jobs for local people.
(Permalink) HS2 Washwood Heath Depot |
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HS2 Ltd has been granted planning permission by Birmingham City Council for two viaducts which will take the new high speed railway into Curzon Street Station in the city centre.
(Permalink) Birmingham Curzon Street HS2 |
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141 Anglo Saxon burials excavated, rich in grave goods including Anglo Saxon jewellery, swords, shields, spears and personal hygiene kit complete with ear wax remover and tweezers, in Buckinghamshire.
(Permalink) Archaeology HS2 |
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The SNP has criticised Boris Johnson for being 'sleekit' and 'cowardly' over his decision to remove a £3 billion HS2 rail link to Scotland following his confidence vote.
(Permalink) Golborne Link HS2 |
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Local MPs opposed plan for 13-mile stretch of new track but industry says move is hugely disappointing. A £3bn branch of the High Speed 2 network designed to speed up rail journeys between London and Scotland has been quietly ditched by ministers, provoking outrage from rail industry groups. The change was announced on Monday evening as the result of the confidence vote in Boris Johnson was being determined. Three leading industry bodies said the decision to scrap the Golborne link would create a bottleneck for trains and negatively affect passengers and freight.
(Permalink) Golborne Link HS2 |
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Rail bosses react angrily to the scrapping of plans for the line in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
(Permalink) Golborne Link HS2 |
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Golborne Link, near Manchester, was designed to link HS2 to the west coast mainline. [Full article requires subscription. -RS]
(Permalink) Golborne Link HS2 |
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The Midlands newest and longest railway bridge is now fully functional after carrying its first freight train. At 92 metres long, the steel and concrete structure becomes the longest single span railway bridge in the Midlands. It needs that clearance underneath so future tracks for Britains new zero-carbon railway can be built below for HS2 trains to access its Washwood Heath depot.
(Permalink) Aston Bridge replacement HS2 Single span Stechford Washwood Heath |
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City councillors are due for an update on Lancaster train services along with roads, buses and city centre car parking changes. Lancaster rail travellers may get a clearer picture on the future of direct trains to London later this year, after fears arose that the controversial high-speed HS2 network could end the citys status on the current inter-city West Coast Mainline between London and Scotland.
(Permalink) HS2 Lancaster  Lancaster: 195118 takes the Down Through Line at Lancaster with a Manchester Airport to Windermere service on 1st July 2019. 390046 is in Platform 3 on a Euston service. This was the first day of CAF CivityMark Bartlett 01/07/2019 |
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Designs updated from 2015 show how the major London transport hub will be transformed with the arrival of HS2. 3,000 jobs and millions of pounds of business contract opportunities set to be unlocked by HS2 construction.
(Permalink) HS2 London Euston  London Euston: Designs updated from 2015 show how the major London transport hub will be transformed with the arrival of HS2. |
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The Environmental Enhancement Plan developed by the Trent Sow Group will enhance the landscape and biodiversity around the new railway. The plan has received £1.5m funding from HS2 Ltd to deliver six projects over two years in the Trent Sow Parklands and Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. HS2 Ltd has worked with the National Trust, the Cannock Chase AONB Partnership and other local partners on the plans.
(Permalink) Environmental Enhancement Plan HS2 Trent Sow Group |
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Footage shows the seven-day operation to prepare for the installation of the Marston Box rail bridge over the M42. The team worked around the clock to deliver intricate programme.
(Permalink) Box slide HS2 M42 Marston Box Time-lapse |
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Newly published plans for the proposed Automated People Mover shuttle between HS2's Interchange Station, Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre.
(Permalink) Birmingham Airport Birmingham Interchange HS2 National Exhibition Centre [Birmingham] People Mover |
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HS2 becomes the first UK construction project to use fully electric giant crawler cranes. Three electric cranes have arrived on HS2 sites in London, supporting HS2s drive towards net zero carbon. The emissions-free Liebherr cranes are supplied by UK company Select Plant.
(Permalink) Electric crawler crane HS2 Select Plant  Old Oak Common [HS2]: The UK's first fully electric crawler cranes start work on HS2 as the project moves towards diesel free construction sites: Zero emissions Liebherr electric crane at HS2's Old Oak Common site. |
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Over 400 burials uncovered in Roman Cemetery. Buildings excavated and artefacts uncovered indicating a bustling Roman town.
(Permalink) Aylesbury HS2 Roman town |
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Greater Manchester mayor says governments £96bn rail plan will not bring the claimed benefits. The north of England risks being left with second-best trains for 200 years under the governments 96bn rail plan, the mayor of Greater Manchester has told MPs. Andy Burnham said that while his city would do better than most in the north, the plan would not maximise the levelling-up benefits that ministers claimed it would bring.
(Permalink) Andy Burnham Great Manchester HS2 Levelling up |
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Plans for a new train depot near Kirkpatrick Fleming that would lead to the creation of 100 new jobs have now been included in a parliamentary Bill.
(Permalink) HS2 Quintinshill |
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52-mile extension of high speed network to Manchester via Manchester Airport set to support 17,500 jobs. HS2 Phase 2B Western Leg will double capacity between Manchester and London, and more than treble capacity between Manchester and Birmingham. HS2 CEO: This Bill is a vote of confidence in HS2s ability to help towns and cities in the North realise their economic potential.
(Permalink) HS2 HS2 Phase 2B Manchester |
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Environmental activists are planning a national day of action to protest against the expansion of the HS2 high-speed railway.
(Permalink) HS2 HS2 Phase 2B Manchester |
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HS2 Minister commits to power Britains new high speed trains with zero carbon energy from the outset, supporting the goal of making HS2 net zero from 2035. As part of the drive to net zero, HS2 Ltd plans to make construction sites diesel-free by 2029 and halve emissions from steel and concrete by 2030.
(Permalink) HS2 Net Zero |
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10m wide Roman road uncovered running through wealthy Roman trading settlement in South Northamptonshire. Multiple artefacts, including over 300 Roman coins, uncoveredImages and video available.
(Permalink) Archeology HS2 Northamptonshire |
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New images showing the green tunnel at Greatworth, Northamptonshire, with similar designs planned for Wendover and Chipping WardenModular design set to cut embedded carbon in construction by 50% inspired by TGV-style off-site manufacturing techniques
(Permalink) Greatworth Tunnel HS2 |
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Only a quarter of the government officials responsible for cancelling HS2 to Yorkshire and downgrading plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) actually live in the north of England and rely on the regions sub-par trains. Of the 24 officials in the Department for Transport (DfT) responsible for writing the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), just six live in the north, the DfT admitted in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request.
(Permalink) Department for Transport HS2 Northern Powerhouse Rail |
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The construction of the UKs longest railway bridge took another major step forward this week with the start of work on the first of 56 giant concrete piers that will support the Colne Valley Viaduct as it crosses a series of lakes on the outskirts of London.
(Permalink) Colne Valley Viaduct HS2  Colne Valley Viaduct: Colne Valley Viaduct concepts created for HS2 by Grimshaw Architects. |
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Plans to create 1,000 jobs and a 40m train factory in Fife have been derailed after the firm behind the project failed to win HS2 contracts. Talgo UK managing director Jon Veitch said the Government announcement was disappointing. But he said the Longannet facility remains a significant part of the firms future plans.
(Permalink) HS2 Longannet Power Station Talgo |
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The North East of England will again be at the forefront of railway manufacturing as it was today confirmed the brand new HS2 trains would be built in Newton Aycliffe.
The Government today revealed Hitachi/Alston JV had won the £2bn contract with County Durham playing a huge role in the assembly of 54 'bullet trains.' It is understood around 2,500 jobs across the region, the UK and wider supply chain will be created as a result of the contract to build. (Permalink) HS2 Hitachi Newton Aycliffe |
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Work is to start on Marston Box bridge which will carry HS2 over the M42. This will be the first hi-tech box slide of its kind over a motorway in the UK which will slide a 10,000 tonne bridge into position next year. This unique construction method will dramatically reduce traffic disruption - a quicker and safer solution.
(Permalink) HS2 M42 Marston Box Bridge |
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Concrete frame and substructure specialist Expanded started work on site last month. The Old Oak Common Station box will be 850m long - the length of eight football pitches - 690,000 cubic meters of clay will be removed, enough to fill eight Royal Albert Halls.
(Permalink) HS2 Old Oak Common  Old Oak Common [HS2]: Work to construct the 850m-long station box at HS2's Old Oak Common station began last month as concrete frame and substructure specialist, Expanded, started on site. Expanded has been appointed by Ba ... |
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Andy Burnham demands underground station for new route rather than cheaper series of viaducts. Swathes of central Manchester could be blighted by viaducts looming over the homes of thousands of people because the government has refused to fund an underground station in the city centre, Andy Burnham has warned. This week the government said it would build a new surface station in Manchester for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, a partly new line to Leeds via Huddersfield. It will be situated next door to the existing Piccadilly station, which does not have platforms long enough to accommodate HS2s 400-metre trains.
(Permalink) HS2 Manchester Manchester Piccadilly Viaducts |
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HS2 archaeologists unearth once-in-a-lifetime discovery of Roman statues and artefacts. Three stone Roman busts uncovered at what is thought to be the site of a Roman mausoleum under a Medieval Church in Stoke Mandeville.
(Permalink) Archeology HS2 Roman |
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The cost of delivering the first phase of a controversial high-speed rail project, HS2, is set to soar by £1.3 billion, due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Permalink) COVID-19 Cost Overrun HS2 London Euston |
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A disused bridge near Saltley in Birmingham has been safely demolished by HS2's main works civils contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV).
Over 685m3 of concrete, 165 tonnes of reinforcement and 250 tonnes of structural steel were removed by precision techniques over four weekends. (Permalink) Balfour Beatty VINCI HS2 Saltley |
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The UKs first training centre for the installation and maintenance of slab track, to be used on HS2, was opened at the City of Wolverhamptons Bilston complex
(Permalink) HS2 Slab track Wolverhampton |
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The Aberdeen-based business has also secured accreditation for the training programmes.
(Permalink) HS2 STC INSISO |
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Transport Secretary added to growing speculation over the future of the eastern leg of the high speed line from London, saying ministers will not 'blindly follow' plans drawn up 20 years ago.
(Permalink) HS2 Leeds Manchester |
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Pupils from three Birmingham schools and colleges dedicated to providing support for students with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND), have presented their ideas for how the design of HS2s stations and trains can meet the needs of passengers with a disability.
(Permalink) Accessibility HS2 |
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Three companies have been shortlisted to construct HS2's new rolling stock maintenance and control centre at Washwood Heath, Birmingham.
(Permalink) HS2 Washwood Heath |
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New fibre optic equipment being tested for HS2 is intended to make sure that sinkholes never become a major problem on Britain's railways.
(Permalink) HS2 Landslip Landslip detection  Fairlie: An aerial view of the Fairlie landslip seen on the 17th of February 2021.  Crianlarich: Scene at Crianlarich on 11 August 2015. On the right is 45407 with The Jacobite, diverted due to a landslip at Lochailort.  Dalmally: A train for Oban leaving Dalmally, running late, on 27 September 1965. This was the day of the infamous landslip in Glen Ogle which resulted in the final closure of the route. It is not known if this ... |
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Robert Hardman: At ten miles long, the Chilterns tunnel for the HS2 London-Birmingham rail link is not only longer than most sections of the London Underground, it is considerably wider.
(Permalink) Chilterns Tunnel HS2 |
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HS2 Ltd today confirmed the shortlist of bidders in the running to build the high speed rail projects network control centre and rolling stock maintenance depot, which will create around 500 long-term jobs in Birmingham's Washwood Heath.
(Permalink) HS2 Washwood Heath |
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Would-be researchers can take part via the Stories of St James's Burial Ground website (see link).
(Permalink) Archaeology Euston HS2 London St James's Burial Ground |
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Arup and Foster + Partners' plans for a new station in Leeds may never be realised, as government leaks suggest the eastern leg of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project will be scrapped.
(Permalink) Arup and Fosters HS2 Leeds |
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Over 300 Iron Age 'potins' “ or small coins “ discovered on HS2 site in West London.
(Permalink) Archaeology HS2 |
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HS2 this week launched 'Cecilia' - the second of two enormous 2,000 tonne tunnelling machines that will excavate the ten mile long tunnels beneath the Chiltern hills just outside London. The first machine “ 'Florence' “ was launched just over a month ago.
(Permalink) Chiltern Tunnel HS2 TBM |
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HS2 has sought support from across government to counter a growing number of protests, as the boss of the high-speed rail project said it was struggling to deal with direct action that had cost it £75m to date. Mark Thurston, the chief executive of HS2, said 'violent and disruptive' protests were spreading north and he had urged ministers to use 'all the agencies of government' to help it.
(Permalink) HS2 Protests |
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HS2 launches 'Florence' the first of 10 HS2 Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) that will dig 64 miles of tunnel on Phase One of the UK's new high speed railway. This first 170m-long TBM the largest ever used on a UK rail project will dig 10 miles of tunnel under the Chilterns, operating 24/7 for the next three years.
(Permalink) HS2 TBM |
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HS2 Ltd confirmed on May 10 that it had selected a consortium of Mace and Dragados to build the station at Birmingham Curzon Street under a contract worth £570m.
(Permalink) Birmingham Curzon Street Dragados HS2 Mace |
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Archaeologists working to prepare the UK for HS2, the new backbone of our national transport network, have begun unlocking almost 900 years of history at St Marys Church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire.
(Permalink) Archaeology HS2 |
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Work has started on the UKs longest railway bridge, with ground engineers sinking the first of almost 300 piles that will form the foundations for the Colne Valley Viaduct. The viaduct, which will carry the new high-speed rail line for 3.4km across a series of lakes and waterways on the north west outskirts of London. [The proposed viaduct is 2.1 miles long - for comparison the Tay Bridge is 2.028 miles long. RS]
(Permalink) Colne Valley Viaduct HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct: Colne Valley Viaduct concepts created for HS2 by Grimshaw Architects. |
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A high court judge has overturned a ban on the cutting down of trees in the path of the HS2 rail link in Buckinghamshire woodland implemented over concerns a rare species of bat might nest there. The decision came as a blow to anti-HS2 environmental protesters who 11 days ago had secured a high court order stopping the work so that the matter could be examined further. The campaigners say they are planning to take their case to the court of appeal in a bid to overturn the latest ruling.
(Permalink) HS2 Tree felling |
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The 2,000 tonne Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) will be launched later this year, creating a one-mile twin bore tunnel under Long Itchington Wood.
A competition to find a name for the moving mega-factory was launched in March and has already received over 120 suggestions. Exclusively aimed at Warwickshire residents, HS2 and BBV are calling on the local community to submit their final name ideas, with the competition portal closing on Friday 30 April 2021. (Permalink) HS2 Long Itchington Wood Tunnel Tunnel Boring Machine |
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HS2 Ltd today revealed the first images of its planned Oxford Canal Viaduct and is seeking views from the local community about the design of the viaduct between Banbury and Daventry.
(Permalink) HS2 Oxford Canal Viaduct |
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