High speed 2

London – Manchester / Leeds
blue - phase 1 of the planned route red - phase 2 of the planned route
Route length:	To: London – Birmingham : 220 km Birmingham – Crewe : 69 km Crewe – Manchester : 82 km Birmingham – Leeds : 198 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	25 kV 50 Hz  ~
Top speed:	Alignment: 400 km / h Expansion: 360 km / h
Legend 0 km London Euston 8.8 km Old Oak Common 156.3 km Birmingham Interchange 175.2 km Birmingham Curzon Street 188.6 km from the West Coast Main Line Limit phase 1 - phase 2A Limit phase 2A - phase 2B East Midlands Hub to Stafford to Chesterfield / to Crewe Limit phase 2A - phase 2B to Glasgow / Edinburgh Manchester Airport from Sheffield Midland Manchester Piccadilly to York - Newcastle upon Tyne Leeds City Source:

High Speed ​​2 , or HS2 for short , is the project name of a planned British express railway line . It should run from Euston Station in London to Birmingham , split up there in the direction of Manchester and Leeds , and later lead to Glasgow .

course

High Speed ​​2 Phase 2

The route is to lead from London-Euston to Birmingham, where it will split into two branches: The western branch leads via Liverpool to Manchester. The eastern branch will lead to Leeds via the East Midlands and South Yorkshire . The travel times from these places to London should be roughly halved compared to today.

history

In January 2009 the British government founded the project company High Speed ​​Two Ltd. By December 31, 2009, this should present a route with an accuracy of ± 25 meters with a gradient accuracy of ± 0.5 meters. In a first step, the 220 km long London – Birmingham line is to be realized. After completion of this section, the cities of Leeds , Manchester and Glasgow are to be connected in a further step . The route is intended to relieve the current West Coast Main Line .

If the decision to build the line had been made in the first quarter of 2010, the plans should have been drawn up and approved by mid-2016. This was to be followed by a six-year construction period (from the 4th quarter of 2017 to the 3rd quarter of 2023), and commissioning was planned for mid-2025. It would be the second high-speed route in Great Britain after High Speed ​​1 , which opened in 2003 (partially) and 2007 (fully) .

In 2011, the commissioning of the first section (to Birmingham) was expected in 2026. The full commissioning of the Y-solution is planned for the years 2032 and 2033.

The prequalification phase for the construction contracts of the first tranche began on September 24, 2015. The seven contracts to be awarded are expected to have a total volume of £ 11.8 billion. The award of the second tranche should begin in 2016 ^[obsolete] , the third tranche (on rail technology) should follow in 2017 ^[obsolete] . The start of construction is planned for 2017 ^[obsolete] , the completion for 2026 .

At the end of November 2015, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that the continuation of the high-speed line from Birmingham to Manchester and Crewe should be completed in 2027 instead of 2033. Travel times to London should be shortened by 35 or 40 minutes. In the course of 2016 ^[obsolete] , pre-construction contracts for the first stage of the project should be awarded for a value of £ 900 million. The project has been anchored in law since 2017. Construction work began in 2018 with the clearing of the first areas in London and Birmingham.

On February 11, 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his government's decision to finally implement the project. This secures and finances the first phase (up to Birmingham), and commissioning is planned in stages between 2028 and 2031.

Extensive archaeological investigations will be carried out on the future route before construction begins. The excavations are taking place at a total of 60 locations on the planned rail link and began in November 2018; they should be completed by 2020. According to lead archaeologist Helen Wass, it is probably the largest excavation in Europe.

Staging

According to the planning at the beginning of 2020, the line from London to Birmingham is to be built first. In phase 2A, the extension to Crewe is to follow. The expansion to Manchsester and the Birmingham – Leeds line are assigned to phase 2B. A study by Douglas Oakervee, the former chairman of the project company High Speed ​​Two, recommends investigating the more cost-effective variant of a route upgrade instead of a new high-speed route for phase 2B.

Staging HS2

phase	route	length	planned completion
Phase 1	London Euston - Birmingham Curzon Street	220 km	2028-2031
Phase 2A	Birmingham- Crewe	69 km	2031-2035
Phase 2B	Crewe– Manchester Birmingham- Leeds	82 km 198 km	2035-2040

expansion

The railway line is to be built in standard gauge and designed for a design speed of up to 400 km / h. At the beginning the trains should run at 360 km / h. In order to save costs, it was recommended in 2019 to reduce the line capacity from 18 trains per hour to 14.

The route should run in the tunnel for around 11 percent of its length. These include large parts of London and sections in the hilly Chiltern region .

Cost estimates

The construction costs were initially estimated at around £ 34 billion . A possible connection with the High Speed ​​1 was not taken into account. The project should achieve an economic benefit-cost factor between 1.6 and 2.0 over a period of 60 years.

In 2015, a House of Lords committee came to £ 56 billion. In the absence of significant construction activity, this estimate was not revised until 2019. In September, Allan Cook, the chairman of the project company, announced that the cost would be 20% higher at £ 81-88bn instead of £ 62.4bn.

At the end of 2019, the projected cost was more than £ 106 billion, almost double the cost projected in 2015. The British government's requirement that contractors should bear the economic risk of all construction delays led to cost increases. The project is to be financed largely through bonds, which are to be refinanced through future economic growth and increased productivity in the regions benefiting from the HS2. The cost of demolishing a project has been estimated at £ 12 billion.

Cost savings are expected through reduced performance requirements (14 instead of 18 trains per hour and direction) and a design speed reduced from 400 km / h to 360 km / h.

Travel time development

The travel time from London to Birmingham would be reduced from 82 minutes today to 49 minutes. With the completion of the Liverpool , Leeds and Manchester sections , these cities could be reached in 80 to 96 minutes from London, 30 to 60 minutes faster than today. Trains from London to the two largest Scottish cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, would only need 2 hours and 40 minutes instead of 4 ¹ ⁄ ₂  hours today .

Planned vehicles

It is planned to use two different types of vehicles on this railway line:

• Vehicles that are compatible with the narrower British clearance profile and can also run on classic routes.
• Vehicles with a larger clearance profile, possibly also double-decker trains, which, however, can only run on the high-speed route.

The trains should be up to 362 km / h (225 mph) fast, 200 m long and capable of double traction.

The British Ministry of Transport is currently running a tender for high-speed trains with the Intercity Express Program . These could also be used on this route, among other things.

Connection with the High Speed ​​1

A connection to High Speed ​​1 was considered, but no longer pursued after review from the end of 2015. Instead, a pedestrian link is being examined to connect the two terminus stations ( St Pancras and Euston), which are about a kilometer away . The two stations are also linked by the London Underground . As part of Crossrail 2 , a station is planned that will lie across the two stations.

A study by the Arup engineering firm estimated the cost of a single-track connection at £ 458 million, a double-track connection would be £ 812 million and a high-speed connection between the two high-speed lines £ 3.6 billion, the study recommended the double-track connection.

The Greengauge 21 study states a total length of 240 km (150 miles) for the HS2 routes, including branches and the connection to HS1.

Web links

• Collection of detailed plans on the UK Department of Transport website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} HS2 could cost up to £ 106bn, draft review finds. In: International Railway Journal. January 20, 2020, accessed on April 11, 2020 . 
2. ↑ HS2 (Ed.): HS2 Chairman's Stocktake . August 2019, p. 9 ( gov.uk [PDF]).
3. ^ Hammond launches HS2 consultation . In: Modern Railways . Vol. 68, No. 751, 2011, ISSN  0026-8356 , p. 44 f.
4. ^ ^{A b} Roger Ford: HS2 route expected to be published before election . In: Modern Railways . Vol. 66, No. 735, 2009, ISSN  0026-8356 , pp. 26, 28.
5. ^ Gordon Pettitt: Why we need HS2 . In: Modern Railways . Vol. 68, No. 751, 2011, ISSN  0026-8356 , pp. 46-51.
6. ↑ High Speed ​​2 civils tendering . In: Railway Gazette International . tape 171 , no. 11 , 2015, ISSN  0373-5346 , p. 7 (among other titles online ).
7. ↑ HS2 connection completed earlier than planned . In: The Railway Engineer . tape 65 , no. 1 , 2016, ISSN  0013-2810 , p. 60 .
8. ^ Intelligence Market . In: Railway Gazette International . tape 172 , no. 1 , 2016, ISSN  0373-5346 , p. 16 f . (among other titles online ).
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} Green light for “High Speed ​​2” in Great Britain . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 4 , April 2020, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 184 .
10. ↑ The largest archaeological excavation site in Europe. Deutschlandfunk Nova from January 10, 2019, accessed on January 21, 2019.
11. ↑ ^{a b} HS2 update: September 3, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2020 (English). 
12. ^ Government to give High Speed ​​2 the go-ahead . In: BBC News . February 11, 2020 ( bbc.com [accessed April 12, 2020]).
13. ^ ^{A b} John Glover: High speed rail summit . In: Modern Railways . Vol. 68, No. 751, 2011, ISSN  0026-8356 , pp. 52-59.
14. ^ Tunnels on HS2 . In: Modern Railways . Vol. 68, No. 751, 2011, ISSN  0026-8356 , p. 71.
15. ^ House of Lords, Economic Affairs Committee: The Economics of High Speed March 2 , 2015.
16. ^ Building news desk: A timeline of the latest HS2 news. Building, July 23, 2019.
17. ↑ Link dropped . In: Railway Gazette International . tape 172 , no. 2 , 2016, ISSN  0373-5346 , p. 26 f .