HS2’s future stations

HS2 phase one will eventually have four new stations in London and Birmingham. These stations are designed to be modern, spacious, and sustainable, accommodating the expected increase in passenger demand. As this highspeed project gathers pace, we take a look at the recent progress at three of these new stations and consider why it is likely that Euston will not see high-speed trains until 2040.

OLD OAK COMMON, WEST LONDON

HS2’s landmark station, Old Oak Common, celebrated a key milestone in June as it marked two years of permanent construction. The ‘super-hub’ station is planned to be one of the busiest in the country with high-speed rail services to the Midlands, Scotland, and the North, and access to central London and Heathrow via the Elizabeth line. It will boast 14 platforms, six of which will serve high speed trains and will be situated below ground. These will sit within an 850-metre-long station box, large enough to house 6,300 Routemaster buses. There will be an integrated connection to the adjoining conventional station at ground level via a stylish shared overbridge, and a light and airy concourse will link both halves of the station.

In June 2021, Grant Shapps MP, then the Secretary of State for Transport, gave the thumbs up for permanent work to begin. Since then, work has gathered pace and significant progress has been made. A total workforce of 1,900 people now supports the delivery of the station, with the site itself welcoming around 1,000 workers each day.

In March, HS2’s Station Construction Partner, Balfour Beatty VINCI SYSTRA Joint Venture (BBVS JV) completed the installation of the 1.2-mile diaphragm wall for the underground box which will contain the six new high-speed platforms. The team installed 275 diaphragm wall panels and 161 bearing piles, the largest of these being 2.2 metres in diameter and 57 metres in length. The first base slab concrete pour in the western end of the station box took place in May, as reported in Rail Engineer 202 (May/June).

The excavation of the station box is also well underway with over 465,000m3 of London clay already removed out of a total of 930,000m3 from across the site. The excavated clay from the site is now being taken away via part of a 1.7-mile conveyor network, removing thousands of lorry movements from local roads.

Over 900 of the 1,600 concrete piles have been installed into the ground where the HS2 station superstructure and overground platforms for the conventional train network will be constructed. Piling work also began earlier this year on the second half of the station – the eight platforms that will be served by Great Western Mainline and Heathrow Express services. Platform construction will start later this year.

In addition to all of this, the demolition of the Wycombe Line Bridge, over Old Oak Common Lane, was completed at the end of May. The disused rail bridge was removed following a weekend road closure and makes way for the construction of the new Network Rail bridges which allow the Great Western Mainline track alignment to be widened as it approaches the new station.

“Here at Old Oak Common, we are well underway in our work to construct London’s newest super-hub station,” said HS2’s Project Client Director, Huw Edwards. “Our work is supporting nearly 2,000 jobs and we are already seeing that the new station is becoming a catalyst for regeneration in the Old Oak and Park Royal area.

“Upon completion, it will harness the close linkage with the newly opened Elizabeth Line, dramatically improving connectivity and creating a new destination to live and work in London.”

Later this year, the eastern end of the 10-hectare site will be handed over to HS2’s London Tunnels Contractor, Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture (SCS JV), for the breakthrough of the Tunnelling Boring Machine, named Lydia, which will have completed the construction of an 850-metre-long logistics tunnel from the nearby Atlas Road site.

The SCS JV team will then receive two further TBMs delivered to Old Oak Common, in 2024, which will be assembled in the station box, ready to bore the five-mile Euston Tunnel.

A project update for Old Oak Common can be found here:

CURZON STREET STATION, BIRMINGHAM

On 17 July, Transport Secretary Mark Harper visited Birmingham with his Australian counterpart, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Catherine King. The pair were there to see the construction of HS2’s iconic new Curzon Street Station taking shape.

Built on the site of Birmingham’s 19th Century station at Curzon Street, the new station will be the first brand new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 1800s. Curzon Street Station will welcome high-speed services into the heart of Birmingham city centre, connecting cities and towns across the West Midlands and beyond. Eventually, there will be nine trains per hour direct in each direction from the station.

Harper and King took an exclusive first walk on top of the grand, 300-metre-long HS2 viaduct to see first-hand the view passengers will witness when travelling into the city on HS2 trains. The walk marked a key construction milestone, celebrating the half-way point of the viaduct’s completion, which now has 15 of its 30 V-shaped piers in place.

Each pier takes up to four weeks to be fully installed on site, with the tallest pier reaching up to six metres above the ground. After the piers are in place, teams will begin to form the deck spans connecting the piers using system falsework and formwork with the longest span between each pier stretching over 28 metres across the site.

Curzon No.3 Viaduct is 65 metres at the widest point, and as it approaches the station, the deck widens from a single deck at the eastern end to four separate decks at the western end, creating opportunities for a usable, flexible public space with maximised daylight under the viaduct.

Once built, HS2’s Curzon Street Station will be one of the most environmentally friendly stations in the world, eventually welcoming nine highspeed services per hour into the city centre. With seven terminal platforms, it will form part of HS2’s opening phase, with the first services expected to run from West London into the station by 2033, serving around 25,000 passengers a day.

On his visit, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “The fantastic city of Birmingham is a hive of construction, with HS2 supporting thousands of high-skilled jobs and apprenticeships, as we gear up to bring its services into the city centre over the next decade.

“As Europe’s largest infrastructure project, HS2 is being recognised globally and, alongside the Australian Transport Minister today, I take great pride in seeing this once-in-a-generation opportunity come to life, which will better connect our regions and grow the economy for years to come.”

The construction project is already delivering huge benefits, and is expected to create over 1,000 jobs, including 100 new apprenticeships and a ‘Restart’ scheme to support unemployed people. Even more jobs will be supported and created as work ramps up across the region in the years to come, with the HS2 Interchange Station set to be built in Solihull.

A brief history of Curzon Street Station from Rail Engineer 194 (Jan-Feb 2022) can be found here:

INTERCHANGE STATION, SOLIHULL

Interchange Station will serve Solihull, Birmingham Airport, and the NEC. The station will form part of a new public transport interchange serving Solihull and the West Midlands, with links to local roads and the UK motorway network.

Once completed, there will be up to five trains per hour passing through Interchange Station in both directions, with an estimated total of 175,000 seats per day, making this one of the best-connected transport interchanges in the country.

The station has been designed to maximise views over the surrounding Arden landscape, providing a pleasant passenger experience. Focussing on sustainability, HS2 has designed the roof to maximise natural daylight and capture rainwater for recycling, which will reduce the demand for electricity and water.

Its design has seen Interchange become the first railway station globally to achieve the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification – a measure of sustainability for new and refurbished buildings –putting it in the top 1% of buildings in the UK for eco-friendly credentials.

The construction site for the station covers an area of 150 hectares within a triangle of land formed by the M42, A45 and A452. Significant progress has already been made on the site, including construction of modular bridges over the M42 and A446 as part of a remodelled road network in the area to facilitate access to the new station.

HS2’s Main Works Contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI is currently preparing the site where the new station will be built. Laing O’Rourke Delivery Limited will build the station.

Passengers and visitors will be moved between Interchange Station, the NEC, Birmingham International rail station, and Birmingham Airport by a new Automated People Mover (AMP) system which will carry up to 2,100 passengers per hour in each direction on a six-minute journey.

The APM will run on an elevated 2.2km long viaduct, and range in height from six metres to 14 metres, crossing the NEC, West Coast Main Line and M42 Motorway.

In July, HS2 announced it has started the search for a contractor to design and supply the APM, as well as a 25year transport operation and asset maintenance contract.

HS2’s Procurement and Supply Chain Director, Andrew Cubitt, said: “We’re pleased to be starting the procurement process for the APM Systems Contract, which is worth up to £270 million. The APM is a vital piece of infrastructure in the HS2 project, connecting high speed rail passengers to the classic rail network, and supporting the shift from car use to public, mass transit transport, which is so important in achieving the UK’s target of net zero carbon.”

Shortlisted companies will be invited to tender early next year, with the contract due to be awarded towards the end of 2024. The search for the APM Infrastructure contract will start later this year, with invitations to tender in 2025 and contract award in 2026. A virtual tour of the future Interchange Station can be found here:

London Euston

The construction contract for HS2’s London Euston was let in 2019. Since then, over £350 million has been spent on preliminary utility and demolition work. However, in contrast to the other phase one HS2 stations, work at London Euston has now been halted. This follows a Government announcement in March that that HS2 programme will “address affordability pressures to ensure the overall spending profile is manageable” and that “we will take the time to ensure we have an affordable and deliverable station design, delivering Euston alongside high-speed infrastructure to Manchester.”

Nonetheless, a National Audit Office (NAO) report, published shorty after this statement, concluded that the impact of HS2’s deferring spending will be additional costs which could lead to an overall increase in spend in the long term due to the costs of contractors stopping and restarting work, contractual changes, and managing sites and the project for longer. At Euston there will be costs associated with maintaining its large, demolished site for which HS2 is attempting to find alternative temporary uses.

As a result of this announcement, the timescale for HS2 phase one has been extended by two years. When it opens in the early 2030s, its London terminus will be Old Oak Common station. London Euston is not now expected to open until the HS2 line to Manchester is operational in the early 2040s.

The Third Design

The latest review is the third iteration of the design of HS2’s London Euston. As a result, it is likely that much of the £200 million design work to date will be abortive. In 2015, an HS2 press release announced that London Euston will have eleven new platforms built at the station in two stages as part of a phased approach with less disruption for passengers. Six platforms to the west of the station were to be built for HS2 Phase One which was then estimated to be opening in 2026. Once HS2 phase one services replaced conventional services from Euston, this would free up space in the existing station to construct a further five HS2 platforms for phase two services.

In February 2020, the Oakervee review of the HS2 project concluded that “the management of the whole Euston project is muddled” and that there was limited joined-up thinking between the three connected projects at Euston which are: HS2 station; Network Rail’s station redevelopment; and the over site development. It also found that the HS2 Euston station design was not satisfactory and added unnecessary cost. In April 2020, HS2 had a £2.6 billion budget for the HS2 Euston station, but by June 2020, it had estimated that its cost might be as much as £4.4 billion.

As a result, in November 2020, DfT instructed HS2 Ltd to proceed with 10-platform station built in a single stage construction although little structural design work could be done until the extent of over site development had been specified. It took almost another year (September 2021) for the DfT to confirm this.

Huge Benefits Lost

Currently it would seem that when the first HS2 services start early in the 2030s with Old Oak Common as the London terminus, it could be a further 10 years before high-speed services run from London Euston. This is controversial as many consider that the inconvenience of Old Oak Common will discourage passengers. Indeed HS2’s modelling concluded that once HS2 was operational to Euston, only one-third of passengers would choose to travel via Old Oak Common.

Yet a more significant issue is lost HS2 capacity which significantly reduces benefits valued at billions of pounds whilst HS2’s terminus is at Old Oak Common. This is a little reported issue which was not considered by the NAO report. HS2’s phase one original business case for a 10 trains per hour (tph) service shows a present value of benefits and revenues totalling £48 billion. An Old Oak Common terminus is likely to at least half these benefits.

Old Oak Common will have six platforms. Yet, unlike Euston, its track layout is specified only for an emergency turnback. This is all that can now be accommodated within the allowable land take specified in the HS2 Act. As a result, it is estimated that, at best, 6 tph could be run from Old Oak Common. This could be three for Birmingham Curzon Street and one each for Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow. An hourly service pattern for these three cities is sub-optimal as their other, slower, conventional services would still be running to Euston.

The HS2 line from London to the West Midlands is a very expensive investment which is designed to have a capacity of 18 tph. However, it can well be only operating at a third of its capacity for its first 10 years. Hence HS2 would not be able to offer, to any meaningful extent, its key benefit of released capacity to allow a significant increase in local, interurban, and freight services.

Moreover, even when Euston becomes HS2’s London terminus it is unlikely that its 10-platform design will enable the HS2 network to operate at its full capacity. While the DfT’s view that 10 platforms are sufficient, this is disputed by this expert advice which considers that a 10-platform station can only reliably support 16 tph.

Looking Ahead

Eventually HS2 will provide a more connected and sustainable future for transportation in the UK with hubs offering smoother and more efficient travel experiences. In the long term, they are set to drive growth and regeneration, attracting investment, stimulating job creation, and promoting the development of new businesses and industries.

The environmental advantages of these stations should also not be overlooked. By encouraging more people to opt for sustainable and efficient high-speed rail travel over other modes of transportation, the project has the potential to reduce carbon emissions, alleviate congestion on roads, and minimise the overall environmental impact of transportation. The incorporation of eco-friendly designs and practices in station construction can set a precedent for future infrastructure projects.

Unfortunately, it will be almost 20 years before HS2 realises its full potential. There are many reasons why costs have risen, and why the project is years late. It is clear that one reason is the focus on annual project spend with little consideration of lost benefits or overall cost increase. At Euston, muddled management and design changes have resulted in HS2 not being able to deliver its full potential until the 2040s.

It is to be hoped that some lessons will be learnt from this.

Two hot and sunny days in June saw the return of the UK’s largest outdoor rail show at Porterbrook’s Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre (LMRIC) in Warwickshire, which was billed as being an even bigger and better Rail Live than ever. It is believed that there were around 6,230 visits over the two days - an impressive increase of 11% on last year.

Formerly known as the Quinton Rail Technology Centre, the 135-acre site includes a two-mile-long circular test track and almost 12 miles of sidings for secure train storage. It is linked to the national network via a two-mile branch line to Honeybourne, and rolling stock owning company Porterbrook took over the management of LMRIC in June 2021.

The site was purchased by the Ministry of Defence in 1940 as a centre for military operations. The branch line to Honeybourne is the surviving stub of a through route to Stratford-upon-Avon (itself part of the Great Western Railway’s main line between Birmingham and Cheltenham) which was closed following a derailment in 1976. It is currently the subject of a reopening campaign that has received development funding from the Government’s Restoring your Railway scheme. Since taking over the site, Porterbrook has invested more than £10 million to upgrade LMRIC, including hard surfacing the roads, refurbishing buildings, and providing improved signage. On a part of the site closed to Rail Live visitors, more than £3 million has been invested in a three-road, fully-pitted shed that can accommodate a six-car set, with 460 metres of new rail. In the future, the intention is to also upgrade the test track to higher speed running with electrification and ETCS Level 2.

Rail Live

Visitors were greeted to Rail Live by an extensive array of yellow ‘plant’ worth tens of millions of pounds, lining the main avenue.

Rail Live was originally established by Network Rail as a ‘plant show’ at its Westwood training centre. Over the years it has grown significantly to cover all aspects of rail infrastructure.

The LMRIC site is huge, with ample room for all shapes and sizes of rail plant and trains, and an impressive programme of seminars and keynote speakers took place in the Rail Live Theatre. There was also a wide range of rail equipment on display along with live demonstrations. This included a variety of exhibitions such as Network Rail’s Air Operations Team and the firearms and dog units of the British Transport Police. Over 270 exhibitors were present, representing all parts of the supply chain.

The Rail Live site is remote, with no station nearby, but a regular passenger train shuttle service consisting of Porterbrook’s Class 769 tri-mode trains ran from Honeybourne station to the site’s own private platform. The ‘769s’ are converted from a Class 319 dual-voltage electric multiple unit, with the additional capability to run on diesel power. At Honeybourne, a temporary platform was provided. The platform was constructed using Glass Reinforced Plastic (made from recycled material) and featured an advanced tri-tone surface for optimised anti-slip endurance. The lightweight, portable, and fully sustainable platform is planned to be reused at other temporary high-demand locations. A shuttle bus service was also in place from, and to, Strafford Upon Avon and Warwick Parkway stations.

There were many other highlights at Rail Live 2023, including Rail Minister Huw Merriman who attended on Thursday 22 June when he launched the second day’s seminars. He headed a highprofile attendance list that included Network Rail chair Lord Peter Hendy of Richmond Hill and HS2’s CEO Mark Thurston.

Class 756

A Transport for Wales Class 756 Stadler FLIRT unit was among the main rolling stock attractions. Twenty-four of the tri-mode units will be introduced on South Wales Metro services, powered by discontinous electrification on lines north of Cardiff and diesel

Go Live With Network Rail

A Track Demo Viewing Platform and giant video screen formed one of the centrepieces in the Network Rail Village, providing visitors with a clear view of the track demonstrations by the Wales and Western to the south, to provide crosscity connectivity. Seamless travel will be promoted through the use of overhead lines at 25kV, and through on-board battery power on non-electrified lines. To keep emissions to a minimum, diesel power will be limited to specific areas. Low flooring ensures level boarding, making it simpler for passengers to get on and off, and reduces dwell time. Air-conditioning, new passenger information systems, Wi-Fi, and areas for wheelchairs, bikes and pushchairs also feature.

HS2 was a first time Rail Live exhibitor, showcasing a model of its Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) named ‘Dorothy’. The full size, 125-metre-long, 2,000-tonne machine started its journey at Long Itchington Wood Tunnel’s North Portal site in Warwickshire in December 2021, and broke through the wall of the reception box at the South Portal site in July 2022. Dorothy and its huge cutter head, weighing 160 tonnes with a 10-metre diameter, was then relaunched in November last year, taking four months to complete its one-mile second bore. Work is now underway to dismantle the TBM, ready for transportation to Birmingham, where it will begin a 3.5-mile tunnel bore between Water Orton and Washwood Heath in early 2024.

The industry body Rail Forum hosted a series of mini-networking sessions to give its members across the supply chain the opportunity for networking with major buying organisations, Tier 1 contractors, and other stakeholders. The five sessions covered SME engagement, on-track plant, level crossings, seasonal delivery, and overhead line equipment.

Other highlights at the show were Great Western Railway’s Fast Charge Battery Train. The Class 230 unit 230001 features a Fast Charge system which unlocks the use of battery trains across the network. This train and its charging system were developed at Long Marston by the now defunct Vivarail company. The Fast Charge engineering team was on hand to discuss the technology and the future potential of the systemincluding the planned trial on the West Ealing-Greenford line.

Region. The demonstrations and associated displays had been developed with three Rail Systems Alliances. Rail vehicles on display included a Mobile Maintenance Train, a track tamper, Rail-Road vehicles (RRVs), and a universal material handling vehicle that is able to receive materials and distribute material via a series of conveyors.

As part of Project FRoOG (Freight Resilience of Operational Geometry), Network Rail was displaying a new vehicle that has been developed with geometry measurement equipment, to dynamically measure infrastructure. It can measure all areas of track under load and, in places where its current fleets don’t run, and measure high-risk derailment sites.

Examples of Network Rail’s Road Vehicle Fleet included a range of electric vehicles from large transit vans to much smaller vehicles. Members of Network Rail’s Commercial and Procurement, Intelligent Infrastructure, and Research and Development teams were also on hand, as were experts in Project SPEED (Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery), which has been designed to challenge how projects are currently delivered.

Network Rail’s team of station hawks were also on display. Provided by Rentokil, these specially trained birds of prey are flown to deter gulls and other pest birds without causing them harm. Rentokil’s bird handlers use their experience and expertise to identify the most appropriate vantage points from which to fly the raptors. Also in the air, the Network Rail’s Air Ops team had its drones unit and two helicopters on display, with the opportunity to meet those who fly them.

Network Rail had a presence in Rail Live’s Signalling Zone, including a stand for the East Coast Digital Programme, and the Network Rail village was full of exciting innovation including Robodog (Spot) created by Boston Dynamics. Unlike a regular dog, Spot can detect radiation, complete thermal inspections, and gather data in his shiny yellow coat. Within the Network Rail Village, the Sentinel team was available to meet customers and users, and to answer questions on how the core safety system allows users to check authority to work before going trackside and experience Sentinel’s recent digital makeover, the biggest enhancement to the system for a while. Intelligent Infrastructure is a digital transformation programme to improve asset management and to provide the basis for a ‘predict and prevent’ maintenance strategy. Network Rail’s experts were on hand to explain the apps and tools which take raw data and transform it into intelligence to support effective decision making. By the end of April 2024, they will have delivered 20 new apps and tools, helping to make the right decisions at the right time to provide improved services for passengers and freight customers.

Electrification Costs

Cost-effective electrification relies on more than just technology, and this was one of the themes for Siemens Mobility at Rail Live. Siemens Mobility’s electrification experts were exhibiting and explaining its technology and demonstrating its approach to delivering cost-effective electrification for a lowcarbon UK rail system. This covered in-house design, UK manufacturing, delivery, and installation.

Siemens Mobility’s product portfolio was on display to show how it can optimise the use of energy across the network, including AC and DC traction power supply equipment, as well as contact line and network systems. Visitors were able to see demonstrations of the latest overhead line innovations including the SICAT SX and surge arrestors which have been developed to affordably electrify over 1,800km of Denmark’s railways. Air insulated switchgear was also on display, which is currently used in the UK, with a model of a compact version in development.

The Rail Live Theatre featured many very interesting and topical subjects and speakers. On the opening day of Wednesday June 21, John Larkinson, CEO, Office of Rail and Road covered the ‘Next steps in rail regulation: PR23 and beyond’. Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive and Great British Railways Lead discussed ‘Where next? The future of Britain’s railways’. Ed Akers, principal programme sponsor, East Coast Digital Programme explained ‘Digital signalling: The next generation railway.’ Mark Thurston, CEO, HS2 Ltd gave ‘An update on HS2: Overview and insights’. Emma Porter, managing director, Story Contracting discussed ‘Why diversity and inclusion matters’.

On Thursday June 22, Milda Manomaityte, innovation director, Railway Industry Association covered ‘Innovation - the supply chain perspective’. Huw Merriman, Rail Minister presented ‘Giving back control: Letting TOC MDs manage and direct.’ Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, chair, Network Rail explained ‘Rail reform as a catalyst for the future’. After lunch, Ian Prosser CBE, HM chief inspector of Railways covered ‘Health and safety challenges in CP7’. Rikke Carmichael, head of Air Operations, Network Rail; Bradley Sparkes, national drone manager; Sean Leahy, national aerial survey specialist collectively covered ‘Aerial derived data – reaching new heights’.

The equipment on show did not only include large, yellow plant and trains. For example, Encortec was typical of many of the smaller suppliers and was demonstrating its vibration and electromagnetic energy harvesting technology. Developed from research by the University of Exeter, Encortec is removing the need to charge and replace batteries, and the need to use power cables connected to the mains for infrastructure monitoring. The concept is for a ‘fit and forget’ remote monitoring device, powered by electromagnetic energy harvesting from AC traction systems.

Vibrant

Helped by the warm weather, Rail Live was an outstanding event and this report only covers a small part of the excellent stands, discussions, and exhibitions on display. There was a vibrant buzz around the site and there was much enthusiasm evident for the future of rail.

LMRIC is a fabulous site for Rail Live, it’s just a shame it’s difficult to get to by rail. The rail link shuttle to the south was great, but how about one with the north? The success of Rail Live and the increase in numbers attending did cause some issues, notably traffic volume in and around Long Marston, long queues at registration, visitors parking on the road, delays in entering and exiting the parking, and some visitors not having badges.

It would appear that many enthusiastic visitors and exhibitors arrived at the same time and Rail Live was a victim of its own success. Many journeys to the exhibition were also delayed to due to a motorway accident, which resulted in traffic suddenly arriving at the site in the same short time. On day one, there was an incredibly long queue forming around the site. So due to health and safety concerns, with the heat and lack of shade, the decision was made to allow a number of visitors into the show without badges (approx. 350), but steps are in place to put clients and visitors in contact, in compliance with GDPR. Like all good projects, an action plan to review the arrangements is under way and to ensure lessons are learnt and the delays do not happen again. We are sure this will be the case and we wish the organisers every success for the future of Rail Live.

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