HS2 Phase 1 Construction
High Speed 2 (HS2) Phase 1 route runs from Euston Station in the south to Handsacre, just north of Lichfield in Satffordshire, in the north where until phase 2a is constructed HS2 will rejoin the existing West Coast Main Line (WCML) to the north. Phase 1 also includes a rail spur that runs into a new Station next to Moor Street in central Birmingham. The spur joins the main HS2 lines at a delta junction
Construction Contracts
Main Line
There are six main construction packages for the new lines as below:
Area South
- S1: Euston Tunnels and Approaches – SCS JV (Skanska Construction UKLtd, Costain Ltd, STRABAG AG)
- S2: Northolt Tunnels – SCS JV (Skanska Construction UK Ltd, Costain Ltd, STRABAG AG)
Area Central
- C1: Chiltern Tunnels and Colne Valley Viaduct – Align JV (Bouygues Travaux Publics, VolkerFitzpatrick, Sir Robert McAlpine)
- C2: North Portal Chiltern Tunnels to Brackley – CEK JV (Carillion Construction Ltd, Eiffage Genie Civil SA, Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd)
- C3: Brackley to South Portal of Long Itchington Wood Green Tunnel – CEK JV (Carillion Construction Ltd, Eiffage Genie Civil SA, Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd)
Area North
- N1: Long Itchington Wood Green Tunnel to Delta Junction and Birmingham Spur – BBV JV (Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, VINCI Construction Grands Projets, VINCI Construction UK Ltd, VINCI Construction Terrassement)
- N2: Delta Junction to WCML Tie-In – BBV JV (Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, VINCI Construction Grands Projets, VINCI Construction UK Ltd, VINCI Construction Terrassement)
Stations
Phase 1 will be served by four new stations:
- London Euston (An expansion to th west of the existing WCML station)
- Old Oak Common in west London
- Birmingham Interchange (Near the National Exhibition Centre & Birmingham Airport)
- Birmingham Curzon Street (overlying the original 19C Curzon Street Station)
Depots
There are two depots associated with Phase 1:
- Calvert Infrastructure Maintenance Depot located where HS2 will cross the new Oxford to Cambridge rail line east of Bicester.
- Washwood Heath Rolling Stock Depot located in east Birmingham
Enabling Works
Presently (2019 into 2020), the majority of construction underway relates to enabling works. Enabling works clears the main areas required for HS2 of existing buildings and utilities and establishes the main work compounds for the main HS2 works. These enabling works are being undertaken by three contracting consortia as follows:
- Birmingham to Leamington Spa (Laing O’ Rourke Construction / J Murphy and Sons) operating under the LM JV banner
- Leamington Spa to M25 (Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure Ltd / BAM Nuttall Ltd / Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd) operating under the Fusion JV Banner.
- Within the M25 (Costain Group Plc / Skanska Construction UK Ltd) under the CS JV banner.
Additionally you may see other contractors names undertakingv work on behalf of these enabling contractors, eg for utility relocation or demolition.