Hi, everybody. I'm Emma Head, Chief Railway Officer at HS2,
bringing you our latest update on the work we've been doing to build HS2. I'm delighted to be your
guide on this 140-mile whistle stop tour of the construction progress we've made during 2023.
HS2 is Britain's biggest build and unprecedented in scale.
We're building more than 500 bridging structures over and under the route,
more than 100 embankments and about 70 cuttings, the longest stretching 2.5 miles.
As we start 2024, work is underway on over two thirds of HS2’s viaducts and over half of our
bridges. Over 25 miles of tunnels have been created by our giant tunnel boring machines.
When the first HS2 services launch, passengers will start their
journey at Old Oak Common Station in West London, which will be the UK’s largest
new-build station and will be the line’s temporary southern terminus. We’re into the
third year of permanent construction of this vast station, and already we can see it taking shape.
Over half a million cubic metres of London clay has been excavated to create the underground
station box, and construction of the first of 14 new platforms is underway.
Once complete, Old Oak Common will integrate into the existing network connecting HS2
with the Elizabeth line, the Heathrow Express and the Great Western Main Line.
To ensure trains can flow freely and on time, as they leave Old Oak Common station,
they will pass through Victoria Road Crossover Box. Over 130,000 tonnes of soil
has been removed to create the structure – the same as 55 Olympic Swimming pools.
The huge, caterpillar shaped structure – 128m in length and 25m deep – is approaching its
final stages of construction, and the western section of the box has been handed over to our
tunnelling teams to become the launch chamber for two huge tunnel boring machines, Emily and Anne.
The two machines will start their 3.4-mile journeys in early 2024,
to dig the eastern section of Northolt Tunnel. They will join our first two London TBMs,
Sushila and Caroline, who are already over one year into constructing the western section of
the tunnel, with each machine having completed over 2 miles of their 5-mile journeys so far.
On the outskirts of West London, construction of the Valley Viaduct
has passed its halfway mark on its journey to become Britain's longest railway bridge.
Over 500 deck segments have been manufactured and installed already.
All of the iconic V-shaped piers are complete and our construction team is moving forwards,
assembling the 80 metre long spans that will carry the railway across the lakes at 2.1 miles.
When complete, the Colne Valley Viaduct will set a record as the longest rail bridge in the UK,
yet it will take just 40 seconds for passengers to go across it in one of HS2’s bullet-style trains.
Once across the viaduct, they will pass through what will be the largest single project in our
Green Corridor programme – where our teams have begun creating the first of
some 90 hectares of new chalk grassland using chalk from our tunnelling activities. And then
head almost immediately into the 10-mile-long Chiltern Tunnel, the longest tunnel on HS2.
Florence and Cecilia, our first pair of HS2 tunnelling machines to launch,
are now over 90% of the way through their journeys under the Chiltern hills,
and on track to complete their drives and breakthrough at the north portal
of the Chiltern Tunnel in early 2024. And as the machines edge closer to that
finishing line, the expert team behind them are installing the tunnel invert – which will
house the HS2 track – and constructing the 38 cross-passages that link the twin tunnels.
As passengers exit the Chiltern tunnel heading north, they will enter a network of cuttings,
embankments, viaducts and green tunnels, which will support high-speed trains travelling up to
225mph across a broad range of landscapes, to deliver a smooth, reliable journey.
Across 2023, we made huge progress on many of the major structures that will carry HS2 trains into
the heart of the West Midlands and further north. The piers for Wendover Dean Viaduct are coming out
of the ground, as the team prepare to launch the first sections of the low-carbon deck in 2024.
The first of 72 massive “Lego block” beams have been lifted into place for
our pioneering Thame Valley Viaduct – the first of its kind in the UK to have all
major elements manufactured off site. And the designs for Small Dean Viaduct
in Buckinghamshire, and Edgcote Viaduct in Northamptonshire have been unveiled.
As HS2 trains enter in Northamptonshire, they will travel underground in two ‘green tunnels’.
Work on the 1.7 mile Greatworth Green Tunnel – the longest cut-and-cover, or ‘green’, tunnel
on the HS2 route – started this year, with the first of 5,410 segments being lifted into place.
Along with her sister tunnel – the 1.5 mile Chipping Warden green tunnel – these tunnels
are built using an ‘M-shaped’ double arch design, and, much like many of the viaducts on the route,
all major components are precast in a factory offsite, before being assembled onsite.
Once complete, the tunnels will be covered with earth and landscaped to a tailored design,
featuring thousands of native trees and shrubs. Over 35 million cubic metres of material has been
excavated across the route to create below-ground cuttings to date, using a fleet of machines,
which are carefully tracked and monitored using an innovative, real-time reporting system.
Around 95% of material excavated is reused on site to create our embankments, noise barriers
and landscaping. We are moving about 99% of the material on HS2 land using a network of
temporary haul roads, to reduce traffic on public roads and minimise impacts of local communities.
As the route enters south Warwickshire,
we dip below ground again into the Long Itchington Wood Tunnel.
The second drive of the twin-bore tunnel, which takes HS2 under an ancient woodland,
was completed in March 2023 when TBM Dorothy broke through at the south portal.
After that breakthrough, TBM Dorothy was dismantled and transported to our Bromford
tunnelling site to be re-used to dig the tunnel next door to the one we’re standing in right now.
As we head north out of the tunnel, our trains will travel along cuttings and embankments,
through a green tunnel at Burton Green and under bridges – including the huge
5,600 tonne Kenilworth overbridge, which was moved into place under the existing
Coventry to Leamington Line in July 2023. This was the third major bridge move delivered
over a two-week period, with structures installed at Fulfen Wood near Lichfield
and at nearby Streethay, that will allow HS2 to pass beneath existing railway lines,
on its route going north where it will connect to the existing railway network.
In Solihull, a huge amount of work has been delivered over the past year to
prepare the area for construction of the new HS2 Interchange Station,
including the removal of an existing bridge over the M42 motorway, and work to improve and remodel
the local road and utility networks. This will create the space to build
the new eco-friendly HS2 station in the heart of Solihull, which will be part
of a new public transport interchange serving Solihull and the West Midlands.
Heading north out of the station, our trains will enter the Delta Junction – a triangular section of
the high-speed railway made up of nine viaducts, embankments, and other bridging structures,
with around 10km of track crossing a network of motorways, roads and rivers.
Across 2023 we saw the first piers for the Water Orton and River Tame Viaducts completed,
and the first of over 2,700 individually cast
deck sections from our precast factory in Kingsbury, have started to be installed.
And as the railway sweeps west towards Birmingham,
we enter the Bromford Tunnel where we’re standing today.
Over 1 kilometre of this tunnel has been completed so far, and work is underway next door to prepare
a second tunnelling machine for launch in 2024. These machines will each dig around 3.5 miles of
tunnel, towards the western portal at Washwood Heath.
From Washwood Heath, where our depot and control centre will be located, trains will head onto
a series of five connected viaducts that will carry passengers right into central Birmingham.
We’ve made huge progress on those viaducts too, with the first sections of the 300-metre-long
Curzon Viaduct deck poured, that will bring high-speed trains into Birmingham's Curzon
Street Station. Foundation works will begin at the 25-acre site in early 2024.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this update and seeing the scale of the works
that we’re delivering across over 350 active sites between London and the West Midlands.
HS2 is the biggest and most ambitious infrastructure project in the UK,
and we look forward to bringing you more updates as we continue
to deliver Britain’s new high-speed railway.
Thank you.