All the latest news and views.
We welcome the Opportunity through Connectivity report commissioned by the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, which acknowledges that a line between Birmingham and Manchester is essential to deliver capacity and economic benefits across the North and Midlands. It is critical that HS2 Phase 1 is properly connected Read more…
We welcome the launch of the Rail and Urban Transport Review by Juergen Maier and the Urban Transport Group. The report echoes our recently published 5-point plan, rightly emphasising the need for a comprehensive North-South and East-West travel strategy, as well as the critical importance of engaging the infrastructure investment community Read more…
A specialist cantilever process has been used for the first time in the UK to build the first span of a 472-metre-long single track viaduct in the West Midlands. The River Tame West Viaducts carry three rail tracks in total, made up of one single track viaduct and one double-track viaduct. Read more…
The National Audit Office (NAO) report makes clear the plan the incoming Labour government is inheriting – a truncated HS2, and a West Coast Main Line operating at capacity – is not going to help grow the national economy, nor is it going to allow train performance on the West Read more…
The High Speed Rail Group congratulates our new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour Party on their General Election victory. This incoming government has made clear that delivering national economic growth is their very top priority, upon which the rest of their agenda hinges. As such we urge the Read more…
We are delighted to announce the appointment of HS1 Ltd’s Mattias Bjornfors to our board of directors. Bjornfors brings almost 20 years of experience as an economist in infrastructure and regulatory industries. Within his current role as Strategy and Regulation Director at HS1 Ltd, the operator of St Pancras International, Stratford, Read more…
We are delighted to welcome Mark Wild to his new role as chief executive of HS2. His track record delivering Crossrail marks him out as outstanding candidate for the delivery of the project, which even with recent changes remains the most important infrastructure project in the UK. HS2 from London Read more…
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…