Delivering High Speed Rail in the UK:
Rising To The Challenge
The HS2 project in the UK will deliver far more than just faster journey times, says Andrew Shepherd, HS2 Project Director and Systems Engineering Lead for Parsons Brinckerhoff.
I
t is widely recognised that building the UK’s second high speed rail network (HS2) will improve transport capacity, strengthen regional economies and make a huge contribution towards world-class transport infrastructure for the country. But moving such a massive and complex project forward represents one of the greatest transport engineering challenges that the UK has ever faced. The first phase, planned for completion in 2026, will run from London to Birmingham and connect to the conventional rail network in the West Midlands. The second phase, due for completion around 2033, will extend the network with one section running northwest to Crewe and Manchester with a connection to the West Coast main line near Wigan, and the other to Sheffield and Leeds with a connection to the East Coast main line near York in the north east. The
overall project covers more than 1000km of track and is designed to cope with speeds of up to 400kph, with trains initially running at 360kph.
Hybrid Bill submission to Parliament
As with any major project, moving through the early stages of design and approval can be enormously demanding and the last six months have been no exception. In November last year, the project took a major step forward with submission of the hybrid bill to Parliament – effectively the planning application for the first phase of the route – marking a move from aspiration to delivery for the government.
Since then we have had two major reports into the project that are helping further define the way forward and the extensive benefits that will be provided to the country. The first was a report by incoming
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HS2 Chairman David Higgins, containing recommendations to government about how the project could be delivered ‘sooner and better’ and the second, from the HS2 Growth Taskforce, has similarly recommended actions for maximising the regional economic benefits of the project. Meanwhile, stakeholder consultation for the second phase of the route was completed earlier this year and the Secretary of State for Transport is expected to announce its chosen route late this year. Following that, preliminary designs will be completed to inform the Phase Two bill which will then be submitted to Parliament.
Parsons Brinckerhoff involvement Throughout this period, Parsons
Brinckerhoff has been integrally involved in just about every aspect of taking the project forward as designer for both the ‘high speed’ and ‘conventional’ railway systems.
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