All the latest news and views.
Steve Rotherham, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region contributed to High Speed Rail: Levelling Up Voices – making the case for the benefits of rail infrastructure investment. : In short, investing in and improving transport connectivity results in a boost to living standards, more resources diverted toward skills and education, and Read more…
HS2 is celebrating the very first tunnelling breakthrough on its one-mile dig under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire. The 2,000-tonne 125m long Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) named ‘Dorothy’ – after Dorothy Hodgkin, who in 1964 became the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, started its journey at the tunnel’s North Portal in December 2021, broke through the wall of the reception box at the South Portal site on Friday 22 July 2022. Nearly 400 people working for HS2’s main works civils contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV JV) have delivered this important milestone on the HS2 project.
The first design images have been revealed of Washwood Heath Depot, HS2’s maintenance facility and main control centre for the whole HS2 network, which will create over 550 jobs in the local area. The site, north east of Birmingham city centre, is where HS2 trains will be maintained, serviced and Read more…
HS2 main works contractor, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), have released updated designs for the land surrounding the section of the high-speed rail line that crosses the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. The plans respond to community feedback and include a series of wetlands containing four new ecological ponds, expansive grass meadows Read more…
HS2’s civils partner, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), has opened the doors to its giant construction compound in Kingsbury, Warwickshire and revealed the scale of works underway ready to build one of the most complex sections of the HS2 route – the Delta Junction. The 550,000 square metre site (equivalent to 74 Read more…
HS2’s designers have reduced the length of wall structures for the railway at Streethay from 1.6 kilometres to 420 metres, meaning 80% less concrete will be needed, supporting HS2’s ambition to cut carbon on the project. The railway will pass through Streethay in a cutting, and the shortening of the Read more…
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. Curzon Viaduct No.3 and Lawley Middleway Viaduct are part of the Curzon Street Station Approach area, which is made up of Read more…
HS2’s main works contractor, EKFB – a team made up of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall – has begun construction at the site of its first innovative ‘green tunnel’, designed to blend the high-speed railway into the landscape and reduce disruption for communities. Unlike a normal underground tunnel, Read more…
Balfour Beatty VINCI Joint Venture (BBV) is currently trialling the world’s first all-electric, high-capacity drilling rig on a construction site in Warwickshire, as the Joint Venture steps up its plans to meet HS2 Ltd’s ambition for diesel-free construction sites. The 100 tonne BAUER eBG33 drilling rig creates an overall reduction Read more…
Speaking on behalf of the Railway Industry Association, the Rail Freight Group and the High Speed Rail Group, a spokesperson commented on the decision to scrap the Golborne Link: “It is hugely disappointing to discover that, on a day when much political attention was focused elsewhere, the Government confirmed that the ‘Golborne Link’ is to Read more…