‘X’ marks the spot

Phil Marsh visits the work site of what is being turned from a railway backwater into one of the country’s most important locations – where HS2 will cross East West Rail.

Phil Marsh visits the Buckinghamshire construction site where HS2 will cross East West Rail.

THE East West Rail (EWR) ‘Varsity Line’ and HS2 routes are due to cross at the northern stub of the former Great Central Railway at Calvert, 10 miles north of Aylesbury, with EWR crossing over HS2 by bridge.

HS2 has been given the construction powers for the 3.5km section of EWR to the west and south of Calvert (towards

Oxford and Aylesbury respectively), plus a kilometre beyond Claydon loop towards the east (Bletchley). HS2 is responsible for the earthworks and structures in this area, while EWR will install the track and signalling.

This location is known as the HS2/EWRA Integration Area, and also includes the 10km section from just north of Calvert to Quainton Road station, currently known as the HS2 trace or future railway. Within this is the Calvert North HS2 construction compound, which will become the HS2 Rail Systems maintenance depot once the line opens.

Calvert trackworks

The waste transfer facility at Calvert is being relocated to the south and east of the former GCR line, accompanied by 1.5km of new sidings to enable this landfill site to remain open. To the east of the existing waste transfer sidings, a new HS2 concrete batching plant is under construction.

The waste terminal is being relocated because HS2 will run through the existing unloading point, while the Claydon curve (to the north of the waste station) will need to be moved south of its current location. This curve was lifted in mid-July along with the track from the curve to the waste station, plus Claydon loop and the track east of the loop to the EWR infrastructure boundary.

Other major works at the HS2/EWR intersection include a 900m-long batmitigation structure (a physical barrier to prevent bats coming into contact with high speed trains), along with 45km of drainage and 3km of highway realignment. There will also be five wide ‘green bridges’ across HS2 incorporating pedestrian paths, and a 30m

green ‘wildlife connectivity’ corridor.

The works south of Calvert will create a combined rail corridor for EWR’s Aylesbury branch to run alongside HS2 – assuming funding is made available for this branch to be built. These works will require 1.7 million cubic metres of excavations plus a net four million cubic metres of fill to be to be used to create the two railways.

The aggregate score

It was originally anticipated that 100,000 tons of aggregates would be delivered by rail to the Calvert North compound. The first train operated by DB Cargo arrived on December 10, 2020 but, by the start of July this year, 300 trains had each brought around 1650 tons of stone from Tytherington Quarry (South Gloucestershire), so totalling around half a million tons of aggregate, to the site. The stone trains are unloaded on the Claydon curve by tracked-vehicles with a huge grab. It is now anticipated these trains will continue to operate until September, and from July 12 they will use the new Calvert South sidings, enabling up to another 750,000 tons of aggregate to be delivered by rail. ■

Above: Looking east along the EWR alignment from the Calvert work site on April 4 at the point where EWR will go over HS2. Claydon loop is in the distance, and beyond that the mothballed route towards Bletchley. The Claydon curve from Calvert comes in from the right behind the middle line of red barriers.

ALL PHOTOS BY PHIL MARSH Below: Looking north from the Calvert work site on June 23 along the HS2 trace/route at the point where it will go underneath East West Rail. Some of the future bridge’s foundations can already be seen.

A closer view looking east from the Calvert worksite of Claydon LNE Junction on June 23, with Claydon curve coming in from the right and Claydon loop ahead.

Above: A construction notice located at the HS2/ EWR boundary west of Claydon Junction, and photographed on February 23, 2019.

Stone is unloaded from No. 66085’s train on the Claydon curve on June 23. Water is sprayed over the unloaded stone to keep the dust down.

The EWR alignment looking west (towards Oxford) from the Calvert worksite on June 23.

Looking west (towards the Calvert worksite and Oxford) along the EWR alignment at Claydon loop on July 6, as track lifting begins.

Looking east (towards Bletchley) along the EWR alignment at the end of Claydon loop on May 9.

Looking south along the route towards Aylesbury at the Calvert waste transfer station on May 9, as No. 66023 waits with its train of empty wagons. Looking north at Calvert waste terminal on January 6 along the alignment of the future HS2 line. Below: Heading south from Calvert on July 6, No. 66063 pauses to collect the Aylesbury token at Waddesdon after discharging its stone at Claydon. Quainton Road station is just visible in the distance.