High Speed 2 news
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Rail Business UKArmitt criticises ‘blurred picture’ for rail development in wake of HS2 axe
UK: ‘It hasn’t been a great six months for rail’, suggested Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, in his keynote address to the Northern Transport Summit on March 21. Armitt was among a raft of policymakers and transport officials at the event who ...
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Rail Business UKBreakthrough completes boring of High Speed 2’s longest tunnel
UK: On March 21, tunnel boring machine Cecilia broke through the north portal of the Chiltern Tunnel on High Speed 2.
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Rail Business UKHigh Speed 2 funding ‘reallocated’ to roads
UK: The government has announced a £4·7bn Local Transport Fund to support projects in smaller cities, towns and rural areas England’s north and Midlands using what it describes as ‘reallocated HS2 funding’. The fund is for communities which do not benefit from City Region Sustainable Transport ...
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Rail Business UKWest Midlands – Manchester rail plan is not a HS2 revival, mayors say
UK: Metro Mayor for the West Midlands Andy Street and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham report that they have held constructive talks with the Secretary of State for Transport, Rail Minister and senior officials from the Department for Transport regarding their work to assess how ...
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Rail Business UKHS2 Phase 2 cancellation raises ‘urgent and unanswered questions’
UK: The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee makes six recommendations in its latest report on High Speed 2, which calls on the government to answer questions raised by its decision to cancel Phase 2. The recommendations are: The Department for Transport should set out ...
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Rail Business UKConstruction of Birmingham Curzon Street HS2 station begins
UK: Main construction works for Birmingham Curzon Street High Speed 2 station were officially launched on January 24. The station has been designed by WSP and Grimshaw Architects, and according to HS2 Ltd is inspired by ‘the great arched roofs built by the Victorian railway pioneers’. ...
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Rail Business UKInterview: Avanti West Coast navigates complex path to recovery
UK: Avanti West Coast Managing Director Andy Mellors sets out how the operator intends to restore resilient operations and develop services further, explaining that there will be no return to the pre-Covid operating plan on Europe’s busiest mixed-use railway.
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Rail Business UKHS2 route no longer protected from development
UK: The government has formally lifted the planning protection which had been put in place to safeguard the route of the now-cancelled Phase 2a of High Speed 2 between the West Midlands and Crewe. Land close to Handsacre will continue to be safeguarded to allow HS2 ...
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Rail Business UKHS2 station information management system contract awarded
UK: HS2 Ltd has awarded Siemens Mobility a £47m contract to provide an integrated station information management system covering Birmingham Curzon Street, Interchange, Old Oak Common and London Euston. Siemens Mobility is to supply its Digital Station Manager technology, which is in use on London’s Elizabeth ...
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Rail Business UKMayors launch group to study improved Birmingham – Manchester rail links
UK: West Midlands Mayor Andy Street and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham have convened a private sector group to look at options to improve rail connections between the Midlands and the north of England. The mayors said the Birmingham – Manchester corridor running through Wolverhampton ...
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Rail Business UKLive broadcast: Britain’s railways in a state of flux
UK: Britain’s rail sector is in a state of flux. In Railway Gazette Group’s forthcoming interactive live broadcast on November 22, a panel of industry leaders will assess the outlook in the wake of the scrapping of the remaining legs of High Speed 2, ongoing pressure on day-to-day operating budgets, question marks over plans to establish Great British Railways as a ‘guiding mind’ for the industry and the uneven picture of devolution.
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Rail Business UKHS2 achieves Inclusive Environments Recognition
UK: High speed line project promoter HS2 Ltd says it is the first infrastructure company to be awarded Inclusive Environments Recognition certification at organisational level by the Construction Industry Council. HS2 Ltd has held focus groups, virtual reality simulations and live testing sessions with charitable organisations, ...
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Rail Business UKCILT publishes 10-point plan after cancellation of HS2 Phase 2
UK: The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport has published 10 points setting out what it would like to see following the cancellation of further phases of High Speed 2, which it was ‘deeply disappointed’ by. CILT recommends: 1. a well-informed independent inquiry should be set ...
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In depthComment: UK turns its back on rail growth
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to abandon the remaining phases of the High Speed 2 programme reflects the UK government’s growing antipathy to rail investment and equivocation about climate targets, leaving Britain’s railway without a clear plan for future expansion.
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Rail Business UKHS2 cancellation is ‘worst possible outcome for rail freight’
UK: The Rail Freight Group has condemned the government’s decision to truncate High Speed 2 in the West Midlands, describing it as ‘the worst possible outcome for rail freight’. RFG Director General Maggie Simpson said ‘scrapping HS2 whilst still allowing its trains to run on the ...
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Rail Business UKRemaining phases of High Speed 2 cancelled
UK: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced the cancellation of the parts of the High Speed 2 rail programme not already under construction.
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Rail Business UKResponses to High Speed 2 cancellation
UK: Rail Business UK rounds up the key points from responses to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of the cancellation of the next stages of the High Speed 2 project
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Rail Business UKRail suppliers and unions call for clarity on High Speed 2
UK: Ahead of the Conservative party conference on October 1-4 the Railway Industry Association has set out ‘key asks’ to provided clarity on the future of the rail industry, while trade unions have called for a High Speed 2 project summit. Industry asks Supply industry association ...
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Rail Business UKCarbon reduction standard helps make HS2 trains ‘leaner and greener’
UK: Hitachi Rail says it is the first train manufacturer to attain BSI’s PAS 2080 standard for carbon management in infrastructure. This follows an assessment of the full life-cycle of the 54 trainsets it is to supply for High Speed 2 through a joint venture of ...
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Rail Business UKGovernment confirms Integrated Rail Plan to be updated
UK: The government has formally responded to recommendations made by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee in its 2022 report into the £96bn Integrated Rail Plan for the North & Midlands, which had been announced in 2021. In its response published on July 13, the ...