HS2 - Government proposals, alternative routes and general discussion

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

Claire Young is MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) for Thornbury and Yate, in a constituency which includes a section of the main London to South Wales line on it with a single station which at present does not have a regular scheduled local service to London, being served by only by trains from Cardiff running to and through Bristol toward the West Country - indeed as far as Penzance.

Are the 26 trains mentioned a fresh announcement or are they the class 175 units which will be very welcome.

Is Claire the LibDem Transport spokesman? That would explain why it was her that mentioned these?
I reckon it's the 175s (correct number of units).

Paul Kohler - MP for Wimbledon - in the Commons
Baroness Pidgeon - in the Lords

So she isn't the transport spokesperson, doesn't have a station in her constituency which will be affected either way, and has started announcing things that are already under way, something traditionally done by the government rather than the opposition. The news that trains will not be stopping at a station that hasn't been built yet is unlikely to have champagne corks popping amongst even her more fervent supporters, and will only be true for as long as the various bodies involved think that trains stopping at OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) is not a good idea.

[TaplowGreen]

Claire Young is MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) for Thornbury and Yate, in a constituency which includes a section of the main London to South Wales line on it with a single station which at present does not have a regular scheduled local service to London, being served by only by trains from Cardiff running to and through Bristol toward the West Country - indeed as far as Penzance.

Are the 26 trains mentioned a fresh announcement or are they the class 175 units which will be very welcome.

Is Claire the LibDem Transport spokesman? That would explain why it was her that mentioned these?
I reckon it's the 175s (correct number of units).

Paul Kohler - MP for Wimbledon - in the Commons
Baroness Pidgeon - in the Lords

So she isn't the transport spokesperson, doesn't have a station in her constituency which will be affected either way, and has started announcing things that are already under way, something traditionally done by the government rather than the opposition. The news that trains will not be stopping at a station that hasn't been built yet is unlikely to have champagne corks popping amongst even her more fervent supporters, and will only be true for as long as the various bodies involved think that trains stopping at OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) is not a good idea.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/big-u-turn-controversial-railway-10039622?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

[ChrisB]

I'm not sure that this is within the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) remit is it? If the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) want them to stop, they'll errr....stop.

[TaplowGreen]

More money required for the Acton-Solihull line................

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3qk6g4692o

[Bob_Blakey]

The entire built-up area of Wendover is separated from the HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) route, a chunk of which will be hidden in the Wendover Green Tunnel, by the A413. Planning application 25/00406/APP shows that the chamber was proposed to be located on farmland to the NW of Wendover and it appears that it was the Kings Farm track which could have been extended to provide access.

Personally, given the cost so far, I would have approved a new direct access from the A413 with a bridge over the railway.

[TonyK]

This could prove calamitous for Bucks CC if HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) appeals and wins.

[TaplowGreen]

This could prove calamitous for Bucks CC if HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) appeals and wins.

Calamity and HS2 are never far apart.

[Mark A]

An on-the-ground account on this Substack blog. The conflict really is dismal.

Mark


https://martinrobbins.substack.com/p/i-visit-britains-most-expensive-farm

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) tunnel machine breaks through for milestone

A giant HS2 boring machine has broken through to complete the first section of a three and-a-half mile (5.6km) tunnel on the route's approach into Birmingham.

The 125m (137yd) long, 1,600-tonne machine emerged on Friday morning after 652 days and nights of construction work.

The device was named Mary Ann by the local community in a nod to the Warwickshire-born writer George Eliot, which was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans.

The tunnel is the first of two bores of the Bromford Tunnel, running from Water Orton in north Warwickshire to Washwood Heath in Birmingham, passing under the area's motorway network and the River Tame. The breakthrough - HS2's first in Birmingham - was described by officials as a "significant milestone" for the line.

About 31,000 people are employed on the programme across the 140-mile (225km) route.

An HS2 spokesperson estimated that the second bore of the Bromford Tunnel would be completed later this year by another tunnel boring machine, this one named Elizabeth, after the social reformer and activist Dame Elizabeth Cadbury.



Following the excavation, teams will begin fitting out the tunnel with cross passages, concrete finishing works, base slabs and emergency and maintenance walkways.

At peak production, Mary Ann advanced at about 30m (98ft) each day, with teams reinforcing the tunnel with more than 20,000 pieces of concrete.

"Today's breakthrough is a significant milestone for the project and I'm immensely proud of the men and women who have worked day and night to bring Mary Ann and her crew home safely," said Mark Wild, HS2 Ltd's chief executive. "Washwood Heath is set to become one of the most important sites on the entire HS2 network - the point at which the railway will be operated, controlled and maintained using the very latest digital technology."

Mary Ann dug out about a million tonnes of soil to create the structure, which will become the longest railway tunnel in the West Midlands. The earth which was excavated will be reused to support construction of a nearby network of 13 viaducts, officials added.

[TaplowGreen]

Further delays and costs..................

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsbirmingham/fears-birmingham-hs2-station-could-be-delayed-amid-new-2039-finish-date/ar-AA1ERgS1?ocid=socialshare

[Witham Bobby]

The only HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) train running in this decade is an enormous gravy train

This nation has "complianced" herself into an incapability to run infrastructure projects.  See also Hinckley Point, etc.

A nation, once full of energy and zeal, that built railway lines all over the globe, is now unable to build a 140 mile railway between two of her great cities

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Rail Advent:

Significant progress in excavating 8.4-mile-long HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) tunnel under London - June 2025



Further significant progress in excavating the 8.4-mile-long Northolt Tunnel for HS2 was made when the third of four tunnel boring machines completed its work in the tunnel last Friday, 6th June.

Emily made the breakthrough after completing a 3.4-mile drive at Green Park Way in Greenford, west London, and the fourth TBM, Anne, is due to finish its boring this summer.

The second bore was completed by TBM Caroline in April this year.

Emily was named after Emily Sophia Taylor, who helped establish the Perivale Maternity Hospital in 1937 before becoming Ealing’s first female mayor in 1938.

It was launched in February 2024 and worked on one bore of the eastern section of the tunnel, from where it removed 775,000 tonnes of London Clay and installed 17,514 tunnel segments.

Four TBMs are being used to construct the Northolt Tunnel, with two TBMs building the eastern section from Victoria Road in North Acton and two TBMs building the western section from West Ruislip. Each TBM will finish its task at Green Park Way, from where it will be lifted out from its underground shaft.

Because of high water pressure in the ground at the Green Park Way site, the TBMs are finishing their drives in a reception can in the shaft, which allows pressure to be maintained while sealant is applied from the tunnel lining to prevent water ingress.

Emily was designed specifically for the soft London Clay of the tunnel. Built by Herrenknecht in Germany, it weighs 1,700 tonnes and has a 9.11m diameter cutterhead.

Three teams of 48 employed by HS2’s London Tunnels contractor, Skanska Costain STRABAG JV, worked around the clock to bore the tunnel, with Emily advancing at around 38 metres per day at peak production.

Excavated clay was removed from the tunnel on a conveyor system to the London Logistics Hub at Willesden Euro Terminal, then transported by rail and reused at sites in Cambridgeshire, Kent and Warwickshire.

The excavated tunnel shaft was lined with concrete segments, each weighing up to 7 tonnes, and made at Hartlepool in County Durham by STRABAG.