Construction work officially begins on the UK's HS2 Project.

Construction work on the United Kingdom of Great Britain's High Speed 2 (HS2) High Speed Rail (HSR) project officially kicked off on September 4th, 2020.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated on the occasion that HS2 will 'fire up economic growth' and 'create 22,000 construction jobs'. High speed rail first arrived in the United Kingdom in

Construction work officially begins on the UK's HS2 Project.
Alstom-Avelia-HS2-Train-FINAL

Construction work on the United Kingdom of Great Britain's High Speed 2 (HS2) High Speed Rail (HSR) project officially kicked off on September 4th, 2020.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated on the occasion that HS2 will 'fire up economic growth' and 'create 22,000 construction jobs'.

High speed rail first arrived in the United Kingdom in 2003, when the first part of the 108 km (67 mile) long High Speed 1 (the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) was opened between London and the Channel Tunnel. In March 2010, the UK Government published proposals for a high speed rail line linking London and Birmingham, following work undertaken previously by a company set up by the Department for Transport (DfT), HS2 Limited. At the same time, HS2 Limited was asked to develop proposals for extending the proposed network from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.

The UK Government approved the project in February 2020 and the start of project work in April 2020.According to current plans HS2 will connect London, the Midlands and the North, serving eight of Britain's ten largest cities once completed.

The project is scheduled to be developed in three distinct phases:

- Between 2029 and 2033 Phase 1 will connect London Euston and Birmingham with 225 kms (140 miles) of dedicated track that will run through Buckinghamshire. North of Birmingham the track will re-join the existing West Coast Mainline, with services travelling onwards to Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Preston and Wigan.

- With Phase 2ahigh speed the existing West Coast Mainline infrastructure will be added between Fradley in the West Midlands and Crewe in Cheshire, allowing high speed services to carry passengers between London and Crewe.

- Phase 2b will extend the high speed network to Manchester and Leeds, and beyond. The line will form a Y shape, split into an eastern and a western leg. The western leg will connect to the high speed lines at Crewe and run through to Manchester. The eastern leg will connect to high speed lines in the West Midlands and run through to Leeds. Services will also travel onward on the existing network.

A rolling stock maintenance depot will be built in Wash wood Heath, Birmingham, covering all requirements of Phase 1 and Phase 2a. The maintenance depot for the eastern leg of Phase 2b will be erected at Gateway 45, an industrial estate and Park & Ride location near the M1 motorway in Leeds. Bidding for the contract to design, build and maintain the first batch of rolling stock started in 2017 and is currently expected to result in an award in the first half of 2021.The first batch delivery will include at least 54 trainsets,capable capableof operating on both high speed and existing infrastructure.

Shortlisted suppliers

  • Alstom Transport
  • A consortium between Bombardier Transportation and Hitachi Rail Europe
  • Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF)
  • PatentesTalgo
  • Siemens Mobility

Maximum design speed will be 400 kph (250 mph). This is a higher maximum speed than existing lines, but in line with designs for future routes in Europe. Initially, trains will run at a maximum speed of 360 kph (225 mph).Newly built conventional trains will be capable of operating on the new high speed track at full line speeds, then continue onto conventional tracks at speeds of up to 200 kph (125 mph). This will allow certain train services to reach destinations served only by the existing rail network.

The new infrastructure will be built to a European structure gauge (just like High Speed 1, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) and will conform to European Union technical standards for interoperability (TSI) for high speed rail. This will allow international rail services to the rest of Europe.

Signalling will be based on the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), the European standard for the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) that allows an interoperable railway system in Europe. Platform height will not be the European standard of 760 mm (2 ft 6 in); by specification the new trains will have a floor height of 3 ft 7.9 in (1,115 mm), meaning that all new HS2 stations will have the conventional British platform height of 915 mm, like on High Speed 1.

HS2 will be engineered to accommodate trains of 400 metres length, essentially two 200 metre trains coupled. It is common European practice to run two trains coupled for a certain distance and then to either split the train to serve two different destinations or to reduce the train length for sections of journey for which there is lesser demand. Because of this, station platforms will need to be significantly longer than on the conventional network.

Services will be initially operated by Avanti West Coast, a joint venture between FirstGroup, a British multi-national transport group Trenitalia, the primary train operator in Italy Avanti West Coast will be responsible for running all aspects of the service including ticketing, trains and the maintenance of the infrastructure. The new franchise will run for the first five years of operation. With the introduction of HS2 travel between London and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow will be up to 30' faster than current services. The new high speed line would bring a more frequent and reliable service, a doubling in capacity and a reduction in crowding levels on many services.

To sum things up, the project is motivated by the following main drivers:

- The railway network capacity will be increased to handle increasing passenger demand

- Improved connectivity will be expected to have a positive impact on the economy

- Capacity increase and carefully planned journey times will be expected to shift passengers from road and air to rail

- The removal of most express services from the existing railway will allow to increase local services

On the other hand, a significant amount of opposition to the construction of the new railway, driven by environmental concerns, has mounted over the last four years, with protest camps being established in the Colne Valley Regional Park first and in other parts of Buckinghamshire afterwards. The Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust have raised concerns about destruction of local biodiversity and oppose the project.

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