High Speed 2
CHRIS RAYNER, Director of Infrastructure at HS2 Ltd, tells RICHARD CLINNICK about the progress made so far and what we can expect to see over the next few years
HS2 Ltd‘s Director of Infrastructure CHRIS RAYNER discusses the progress made so far… and what comes next.
“The trace for the route will start to appear in about a year. Remember, the early works have been running for more than two years - if you go on site, it’s changed demonstrably.”
It’s fair to say that Chris Rayner, HS2 Ltd’s Director of Infrastructure, is excited by the magnitude of what is the largest railway scheme since the Victorian era. But with the COVID-19 pandemic dominating the national agenda, many could be forgiven for having missed the sheer scale of work that is already under way.
This includes the construction near the M25 of portals that will be the launch site for two massive 2,000-tonne Tunnel Boring Machines which will munch their way through ten miles of subterranean Buckinghamshire over the next three and a half years, stopping only for
Christmas and Bank
Holidays. These TBMs are being built in
Germany before being disassembled, moved to the UK, reassembled and being put to work. On April 15, Government gave HS2 Ltd permission to issue formal Notice to Proceed to its four main civils contractors ( RAIL 903). This came around two months after the Oakervee Review suggested that the new railway should be built, albeit warning that costs could rise. “Expensive but necessary” was the description when the Review was leaked in January ( RAIL 897). High Speed 2 retains cross-party support, but that doesn’t mean its role should not be questioned - one of the first things Boris Johnson did after taking over as Prime Minister last summer was to declare his backing for the scheme, while commissioning Oakervee to investigate the project to see if it represented value for money.
On February 11 this year, Johnson told Parliament that HS2 would be built in full ( RAIL 899), and that he is committed to extending it from Crewe across northern England. Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps also warned that month that failure to build the new railway would mean the existing ‘classic’ network would be full by 2030.
Major questions do still need answering. Several instances remain of stakeholders questioning why their part of the country is losing out. For example, a group of Leeds City Region MPs suggested that HS2 should arrive in their area at the same time it reaches Manchester ( RAIL 907), and that the Benefit: Cost Ratio is double that of the North West route (hurting the region to the tune of £1.7 billion for each year it’s delayed).
Transport for the North also disagrees with Oakervee that HS2 should receive priority over Northern Powerhouse Rail, arguing that they should be built at the same time to take advantage of the skills available ( RAIL 907).
In the meantime, preparatory work began
When you see this built, it’s incredibly exciting. When all the bridges are up and the tunnels are dug, which is set to be 2024-25, it will really look like a railway.
along the route of Phase 1 (London EustonCurzon Street), while planning applications for some of the biggest elements of the projects - the stations - were reaching their final stages.
Curzon Street in Birmingham became the first to receive approval (although the raised railway and tunnels needed to connect it to the HS2 network have yet to be approved). It was followed by Old Oak Common in west London.
In recent weeks, there has been a deluge of almost daily images being published or new contracts being issued ready for expressions of interest.
However, we still await details regarding which company will build the trains, where the signalling will be procured from, and how products will be transported to and from site by rail.
A pandemic hitting Britain hasn’t helped, although it has focused minds on what the objective of HS2 is… capacity. Even the projected decrease in passenger numbers was not enough to stop the scheme. Indeed, the principal issue has been the need to stop work at some sites in London, as staff would have to use public transport at a time when that was being discouraged.
This is not the first UK high-speed railway on which Rayner has worked, as one of his previous roles was Network Rail Managing Director CTRL from 2001-08. During that time, he oversaw the two-phased opening of what is now High Speed 1, with Channel
Tunnel Rail Link 1 opened in 2003, followed by CTRL2 in November 2007.
Asked about the similarities between HS1 and HS2, he says that while both are highspeed rail systems, HS1’s maximum speed is 300kph (186mph) whereas the new railway will have a 360kph (225mph) maximum speed.
“A lot of HS2 will be in tunnels, whereas
HS1 has 22 kilometres (13.6 miles) in tunnels, although there are similar challenges regarding the tunnels - it’s difficult to plan to build through Kent, much the same as it is through the Chilterns,” he adds.
Rayner also explains that the former is ballasted outside the tunnels, but there is a smaller number of trains running on it.
HS1 also uses what Rayner describes as
“aged signalling” which he suggests could be converted in the not-too-distant future.
This is currently TVM430, which is no longer supported by manufacturers.
With HS1, Rayner was the infrastructure director. On HS2, he has been involved in creating the specifications for the new railway: “We’ve been able to have the view of the operator, and that has helped. For example, HS1 decided early on that there would be no using mobile phones in tunnels, and we held onto that. But for HS2, that at-seat connectivity will be vital.”
Regarding the Notice to Proceed, Rayner says: “This wasn’t approval, it was us issuing the go-ahead to our contractors, but we needed Government approval to do so. It’s broadly £ 9bn worth of work, and that was a very important stage for the project.”
The talk turns to costs, as it so often does with HS2. Protesters cite figures ranging from