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…
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 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…
We spoke to Lily Robinson, an Apprentice Civil Engineer at Arcadis, who has recently joined our High Speed Rail Apprentice Network. Can you describe your role in a few words? As an engineer, I get to do technical engineering, project management and commercial work. I get to work with a Read more…
Sarah Curlett is a Level 3 Rail Engineering Apprentice with Alstom, and has recently joined the High Speed Rail Group’s Apprentice Network. Can you describe your role in a few words? I am a mechanical and electrical fitter, which means that I move around the depot working on different things 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…
HS2’s innovative Wendover Dean Viaduct enters a critical new stage of construction as engineers begin the job that will see almost half a kilometre of bridge deck slid into position over the next year, high above the Misbourne Valley in Buckinghamshire. The 450m-long viaduct will be the first major railway Read more…
Following the government’s decision to formally lifting the safeguarding directions for High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase 2a (between the West Midlands and Crewe), we have released the following statement: Today’s decision to remove the safeguarding of Phase 2a land from Birmingham-Crewe is a mistake. Our research shows that if the land Read more…
Deliveries of HS2’s tunnel segments have begun from Hartlepool, using the UK’s rail network to minimise road traffic and drastically reduce carbon emissions. STRABAG, the company manufacturing the pre-cast concrete segments for HS2’s next London tunnel drives, opened a new state-of-the-art factory in the town earlier this year. The new Read more…
A team of 90 specialist engineers has completed the assembly of HS2’s giant tunnel boring machine (TBM) which will dig the second bore of the 3.5 mile Bromford Tunnel into Birmingham. In an assembly operation to move sections of the machine into a 12-metre deep launch pit, two 600 tonne Read more…