Hi everyone.
I’m Mark Thurston, Chief Executive at HS2, bringing you our latest update
on the delivery of the programme, here at our Bromford Tunnel site
just at the heart of the programme in the West Midlands.
Since our last update in January, the Government has updated
how it will deliver some of it’s major transport infrastructure programmes
, including HS2, over the next few years.
Following those updates, we’ve worked with our construction partners to agree changes
to when we will be delivering some parts of our work.
Importantly, the Government reaffirmed its commitment
to delivering HS2 from Euston all the way to Manchester.
And the Bill to take high speed rail to Manchester continues to work its way
through Parliament.
On the ground,
our priority is to maintain the fantastic momentum
we've built to ensure the initial high speed services
connecting our super-hub stations at Old Oak Common and Birmingham
Curzon Street are operating by the early 2030s. And today
the HS2 programme is supporting over 28,500 jobs
right across the country.
And really pleasing
and important to me,
is that we've already seen over 1,200 apprentices start their careers on HS2.
Behind me here today we have Mary Ann, our sixth giant tunnelling machine,
and she's about to start her three and a half mile dig
that will take high speed trains towards the centre of Birmingham
and towards our hub station at Curzon Street.
To date, we've built
over 18 miles of tunnels on the section between London and the West Midlands,
including completion of the twin bore tunnels at Long Itchington Wood.
Construction continues to progress
at many of our key viaduct sites on the route,
and we're starting to see those major structures
come out of the ground and really start to take shape.
Passengers passing through Birmingham on the train will see the huge piers
for the Curzon Viaducts, and our team there is preparing to install
the first section of the main deck for that viaduct later this summer.
Our precast factory near Kingsbury is in full production
with over 150 segments already cast.
And these will be used to create what we call 'Delta Junction', a triangle of viaducts
that will allow HS2 trains to travel from Birmingham south to London,
and north from the West Midlands to the North West.
Major components have already been delivered
for our Thame Valley and Wendover Dean sites in Buckinghamshire,
as the teams there prepare to assemble the viaducts.
And on the outskirts of London, over one kilometre of the Colne Valley
Viaduct is already built
and the team are moving into the next phase of construction
as the structure starts to cross the lakes.
At Old Oak Common,
our construction teams have completed the concrete pour for the station box
base slab, which will house the six dedicated HS2 platforms
some 20 metres below ground level.
I'm also really
pleased to be able to confirm that 19 HS2 construction sites are now entirely
diesel free – a fantastic achievement ahead of our target dates –
and this is showcasing how the project is changing established ways of working
and accelerating the adoption of best practice throughout the UK
construction industry.
And of course, there are wider benefits beyond what we've seen today.
Over 3,000 UK businesses from Dundee to Devon are already helping
deliver these milestones and bring HS2, the whole network, to life.
This summer we'll be announcing more contract opportunities,
opening the door
for hundreds more businesses to join those already working on the programme.
It's an exciting time as attention now turns to creating the structures
that will become the stations
and building a fleet of trains that will transform the way we travel
across our country.
Our stations
will be some of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the UK.
HS2 trains will be some of the fastest, quietest and most energy
efficient high speed trains operating anywhere in the world.
They'll offer zero carbon journeys between some of our biggest cities,
bringing jobs and opportunities with them.
We have a two decade construction programme ahead of us to complete the railway
all the way to the north west into Manchester.
That's thousands more jobs, thousands more contract opportunities
going to British businesses, laying the foundations
for the arrival of more new rail services into the next decade and well beyond.
I hope you've enjoyed this latest update and I look forward to bringing
you more updates as we continue to deliver HS2.
Thanks very much.