journey time hs2

NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

HS2 travel times: Route, maximum speed and time you could save on your commute

Share this with

HS2 , the high-speed train line being built to connect England’s north and south, has always been controversial.

Campaigners have long rallied against it – particularly environmental protestors and those who have faced serious disruption, including people whose houses have been demolished to make way for the build.

But now the eastern leg of HS2 – which was due to travel between Birmingham and the East Midlands to Leeds – has been cancelled by the government.

And many northern MPs aren’t happy about it – bringing about claims the changes ‘could doom the north’.

There are still plans to go ahead with one line of HS2, but where it will it go? And will it drastically improve commuter times?

What is HS2’s current planned route?

Currently, the plan is for HS2 to connect London to Birmingham.

The route – which is part of Phase 1 of the plans – will travel from London Euston to new station Birmingham Interchange.

This line will also travel via Old Oak Common, a station being built for HS2 in West London’s Hammersmith – as well as a newly-built Birmingham Curzon Street station.

Plans say that this part of HS2 should be up and running between 2029 and 2033.

Phase 2 will see the line extended from Birmingham to Manchester Piccadilly station, as well as to Wigan and Crewe.

Latest London news

• Exact date the UK is set to be hotter than Los Angeles revealed
• M25 shut by crash while faulty train causes severe delays on London Underground
• There are some secret ancient ruins hiding in a London car park

To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro.co.uk's London news hub .

This work is estimated to be completed between 2035 and 2040, so it’s still a long way off.

A planned extension into Derby, Sheffield and Leeds has been scrapped – instead only going up to the East Midland Parkway station in Nottinghamshire.

Instead of HS2’s new lines, ‘upgraded’ trains will run along an electrified Midland Main Line to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.

A proposed line between Manchester and Leeds, which would have served Bradford too, has also been cancelled.

A Northern Powerhouse Rail train will travel between Manchester and Leeds in future, instead.

The replacement measures are detailed in the Department for Transport’s Integrated Rail Plan – and include upgrades to the East Coast Main Line covering Yorkshire and the North East.

How long will HS2’s travel times be?

The very earliest we could have a HS2 high-speed line up and running is by 2029 – so it’s a way off before we have exact travel times.

However, here are the expected travel times for the HS2 routes that are planned to go ahead…

London to Birmingham: It’s expected this journey will take 52 minutes instead of 81 minutes (one hour, 21 minutes).

London to Crewe: 56 minutes will be the new time, down from 90 minutes (one hour, 30 minutes).

London to Wigan: Currently, it takes 115 minutes (almost two hours) to get to Wigan from London by train. With HS2, it should take 91 minutes (one hour, 31 minutes).

Birmingham to Wigan : It’ll take 36 minutes to Wigan from Birmingham, rather than 82 minutes (one hour, 22 minutes).

London to Manchester: It’ll take just over an hour (63 minutes to be exact) to get from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly if all goes to plan with HS2. Right now, it takes 144 minutes (two hours, 24 minutes).

And the routes that aren’t to be, judging by the recent announcement…

London to Leeds: With HS2, travel time was expected to drop to 81 minutes (one hour, 21 minutes) vs the 133 minutes (two hours, 13 minutes) it currently takes.

Birmingham to Leeds: With HS2, travel time was due to drop to 46 minutes, instead of the current travel time of 117 minutes (almost two hours).

Manchester to Leeds: If a new high-speed line is put in place between these two northern cities, travel time could be halved from 50 minutes to 25 minutes per journey. The Integrated Rail Plan says a Northern Powerhouse Rail between the two cities will take 33 minutes.

What will HS2’s maximum speed be?

While HS2 will likely continue to be controversial, if all goes to plan: it will be fast.

The maximum speed is expected to be 225mph, which is 100mph quicker than today’s standard trains.

For example, the newest LNER train, the Azuma , can reach speeds of up to 125mph while in action.

MORE : It’s time to scrap HS2 before it causes any more damage

MORE : Tories deny breaking election pledges after HS2 changes ‘could doom the North’

MORE : Single mother sold ‘forever home’ to make way for now cancelled HS2 line

Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram

Share your views in the comments below

Sign Up for News Updates

Get your need-to-know latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more.

Privacy Policy

Get us in your feed

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• UK Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Betting Sites
• Online Casinos
• Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

What is HS2, when will it be completed and how much will it cost?

The key questions and answers, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts

Get simon calder’s travel email, thanks for signing up to the simon calder’s travel email.

High Speed 2 (HS2) is expected to be given the green light today by Boris Johnson , despite concerns about rising costs.

The prime minister will set out his response to the Oakervee Review in an announcement to parliament and is expected to give his final approval to the first stretch, linking London to Birmingham.

Here are the key questions and answers around the project.

What is HS2 (and for that matter, what is HS1)?

High Speed 1 is the 68-mile fast railway line from London St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel at Folkestone in Kent, which opened in 2008.

High Speed 2 is a much more ambitious rail project, involving 345 miles of new high-speed track.

Phase one involves building a line from London Euston via Old Oak Common in west London via Birmingham Interchange (near Solihull and the airport) to Curzon Street station in central Birmingham. The latest proposal is to add an extension northwest to Crewe to the first stage, allowing Liverpool and Glasgow to be served by high-speed trains from the outset.

The second part of the project is a Y-shaped extension with one branch going to Manchester (via Manchester airport) and the other to Leeds via an “East Midlands hub”. The latter branch will also serve Sheffield and provide connections to the existing East Coast main line to York and Newcastle.

HS2 was announced by Labour’s last transport secretary, Lord Adonis, in 2009, and has been supported by the main political parties ever since.

Why is it needed?

When the plan was first unveiled, the arguments were focused on cutting journey times. But the real reason is to provide much-needed extra capacity. The existing West Coast main line is the busiest inter-city route in Europe, handling a mix of Avanti express services, commuter trains and freight. There is no room for expansion, and the system has little resilience.

By removing the express passenger trains to the West Midlands, northwest England and Scotland, pressure on the existing West Coast line will be relieved – allowing services between towns and cities such as Milton Keynes, Rugby and Coventry to be improved.

The East Coast main line will also be freed up with express trains to York and Newcastle routed via HS2, providing more capacity between Hull, Doncaster, Peterborough and London.

How fast will trains go – and how much quicker will journeys be?

The maximum speed is expected to be 225mph (360 km/h), which is 100mph more than the current top speed on the East and West Coast main lines.

Journey times from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds will be almost halved, while links north from Birmingham will save a greater proportion of time due to poorer links at present.

Trains between London and Scotland will be about an hour faster.

These are the key target times published by HS2, compared with actual fastest times for corresponding journeys today:

London-Birmingham: 45 minutes (81 minutes)

London-Manchester: 67 minutes (125 minutes)

London-Leeds: 81 minutes (133 minutes)

Birmingham-Manchester: 40 minutes (87 minutes)

Birmingham-Leeds: 46 minutes (117 minutes)

• Boris Johnson to approve full roll-out of HS2, report says
• Boris Johnson set to give green light for HS2
• Boris Johnson gives clearest indication he will support HS2
• Sajid Javid set to back HS2 in major boost for high-speed rail project
• Scrapping HS2 could cost £12bn, say reports

When will it be ready?

Phase one was due to be open in 2026. But in 2016, the National Audit Office reported that the planned opening date was at risk, noting that HS2 Ltd had missed one third of its own planning and development milestones.

The current expectation is for a token service of three trains an hour between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street starting some time between 2029 and 2033, with 10 trains an hour from Euston between 2031 and 2036. That assumes that work begins by March 2020.

The complete HS2 network is unlikely to be ready until 2040.

How many people will use it?

HS2 is predicted to carry 100 million passenger a year when it is completed – though the Stop HS2 pressure group says: “Passenger forecasts have simply been invented for no other purpose than to try and justify the building of HS2, with it being suggested that HS2 would carry more passengers than all current inter-city services on the East Coast, West Coast and Midland main lines combined, despite the fact that HS2 would stop at far fewer stations.”

How much will it cost to build?

Who knows? Around £9bn has been spent on preparation work. Currently £56 billion (in 2015 prices) is allocated to the project, but the Department for Transport (DfT) now estimates the final bill will be between £65 billion and £88 billion. One scenario suggests that the final cost could be as high as £106bn – 89 per cent higher than originally planned.

How much will tickets cost?

There is likely to be a premium of between 20 and 33 per cent for using the fast service. That would in theory push the cost of a London-Manchester Anytime ticket from £180 to £240 at 2020 prices, which works out at 6p per second. But at the same time as HS2 is being built, the government has pledged to carry out fare reform.

Who’s against HS2?

The project has many opponents, starting with those who reside near the planned line and say their lives will be blighted.

Environmentalists say the proposed line jeopardises 693 classified local wildlife sites, 21 designated local nature reserves, 33 sites of special scientific interest, five wildlife refuges of international importance and 108 ancient woodlands. The Green Party calls it “an act of ecocide”.

Opposition is being coordinated by the Stop HS2 group, which says: “Far from being a magic wand to cure the North-South divide, HS2 would simply reinforce the economic dominance of London.

“HS2 is forecast to be a net carbon contributor 120 years into the future, according to the official forecasts from HS2 Ltd themselves.

“Far from being intended to take flights out of the air, HS2 is being actively lobbied for by at least four major airports which see it as essential to their expansion plans.”

Some supporters of the basic premise argue that the plans have been badly thought through. They point out that Birmingham already has three disconnected city-centre railway stations – New Street, Snow Hill or Moor Street stations – and that Curzon Street will add a fourth, with no easy connections to existing train services.

The London terminus is half a mile from London St Pancras – terminus for Eurostar to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam as well as an important hub for trains to southeast England. That does not provide a good connection.

HS2 does not serve London Heathrow, the busiest airport in Britain, and even though it cuts beneath East Midlands airport there is no station to link with it.

Could plans change?

Certainly, in two main ways. The project could be “descoped”, reducing cost by downgrading the specification. For example if the present 18 trains per hour target is reduced to 14, billions could be saved.

The second phase of the project also has scope for savings, for example by relying more on existing lines rather than new tracks. But that would be strongly opposed by proponents in the Midlands and North of England who say that brand new infrastructure is needed.

Is HS2 the right solution to mid-21st century mobility?

No one knows for sure. Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk are working on competing Hyperloop systems, in which pods are propelled through vacuum tubes at up to 600mph.

Others say that a revolution in autonomous vehicles will allow far more capacity and speed to be extracted from the UK’s existing motorway network.

But at present the UK is lagging way behind France, Germany, Spain and Italy in its rail network, and HS2 is one way to start catching up. One reason Avanti (a consortium involving the Italian state railway) was given the West Coast main line franchise was because of its expertise in running high-speed trains.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Want an ad-free experience?

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

How much time will HS2 save? Northern leg axed by PM

A wave of disappointment is being felt across the North of England after the Government axed the HS2 development beyond Birmingham .

People north of Birmingham, in cities including Manchester and Leeds, will now need to rely on regional train services instead of gaining access to the high-speed line that will connect travellers further south.

Those hoping that the HS2 line could also provide an overall economic boost with benefits all across the country will similarly feel disheartened by the announcement.

Confirming the news at the Conservative Party Conference, held in one of the cities impacted by his decision, Rishi Sunak said: “I say, to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed. And the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.

“So I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project.”

Instead, the North has been promised investments in several regional projects.

The development, which has reportedly eaten a £106 billion hole in the pockets of UK coffers and investors, will now operate on a minimised line between Birmingham and London, reportedly saving travellers a mere 36 minutes.

It’s still expected to take several years before it opens to the public. When it does, it’ll be considerably shorter than initially planned.

The only part of HS2 that is now guaranteed is Birmingham to Old Oak Common — a London hub.

The news has been met with a mixed response, but some representatives in the North suggested that it was another “betrayal”. West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said it was “yet another betrayal of the North which will punish passengers and businesses alike”.

Former chancellor Lord Philip Hammond told The Times: “It’s an economic mistake [to scrap it]. People said we shouldn’t build the Jubilee Line extension and yet that’s transformed the economics of London.

“We’ve already spent £40 billion [on HS2]. That money’s sunk. The cost-benefit economics strongly point to completing the project. Do we just throw it away and create a white elephant, or press on with a project that will have transformative value for the economy?”

HS2: Investing in smaller transport schemes will not solve ‘core issue’ – expert

Burnham blasts Tories as HS2 plans hit buffers

‘Ludicrous’ decision not to protect land on axed HS2 routes

Lord Patrick McLoughlin, a former transport secretary and chairman of Transport for the North, added: “The most expensive part of the route between London and Birmingham has already been built and, if you stop there, you will get most of the costs but with a fraction of the benefit.”

Many supporters of HS2 say the main benefit will be increased capacity as it will enable intercity trains currently operated by Avanti West Coast to be taken off the West Coast Main Line, creating more space for stopping services and freight trains.

Another improvement will be reduced journey times, although that is predicted to be negligible.

The HS2 route plan

How much time will HS2 save?

According to figures shared by The Times, HS2 will save people travelling between London and Birmingham around 36 minutes. The other routes, which have since been cancelled, could have saved travellers more than an hour on their trips.

The following figures were provided by the Department for Transport and reprinted in The Times.

How long will it be until HS2 is finished?

The first HS2 services will run between Birmingham Curzon Street and Old Oak Common in London between 2029 and 2033, according to the HS2 website .

HS2 explained: What is the route now, what are the costs and why is the Manchester leg being axed?

The story of HS2 is becoming a sorry saga, when it was intended to be a symbol of the future which would transform public transport between London and the North. Sky News takes a look at the original plans, the delays and the spiralling costs.

Business reporter @taaffems

Thursday 5 October 2023 17:38, UK

HS2 was touted as the UK's biggest infrastructure project and supposed to transform public transport between London, the Midlands and the North.

But it has become synonymous with political football, disappointment, delays and spiralling costs.

The government's decision to axe the northern leg is the latest blow to the project.

This shrinks the route significantly, with passengers only able to go between London and Birmingham on the high-speed rail - rather than all the way north to Manchester.

Here, Sky News looks at the original proposed HS2 route, how it has changed, the spiralling costs of the project and what will replace the Birmingham-Manchester high speed line.

What is HS2 and why were the plans made?

HS2 was supposed to form 330 miles of high-speed rail network, initially intended to link London and the West Midlands, stretching to Birmingham, with a further phase extending to Crewe, Manchester and Leeds in the North.

It was first mooted by the Labour government in 2009 and it was hoped the increase in capacity would be a boost for connectivity between major cities.

Supporters said it would enable intercity trains currently operated by Avanti West Coast to be taken off the West Coast Main Line, creating more space for stopping services and freight trains.

Another improvement would be reduced journey times.

HS2's inception followed the development of HS1, the high-speed line between London and Kent connecting the UK to routes on the European continent.

The aim was to run 18 trains an hour in each direction to and from London - at speeds of up to 224mph - compared to between two and six an hour on Europe's high-speed railways.

Why is the Manchester leg being axed?

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The project has been beset by delays and rising costs, with some estimates now putting the price tag at more than £180bn, a figure that's continuously risen from the 2019 estimate.

In 2019 costs were put at around £100bn.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the "economic case" for HS2 had "massively weakened with the changes to business travel post-COVID".

"I say, to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed," he told the Tory Party conference.

"So I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project."

How much was it supposed to cost?

The original bill - at 2009 prices - was supposed to be £37.5bn.

At the time of the 2010 election, when David Cameron said his government would publish plans for a high-speed rail, £20bn was committed for rail infrastructure.

By January 2012, when the broad route of the proposed scheme was in place, this had risen to £32.6bn.

In June 2013, the coalition government increased the overall cost to £42.6bn and in November 2015, when the figures were updated, in line with inflation, to £55.7bn.

The Department for Transport's latest estimate in 2021 had spiralled even higher, to between £72bn and £98bn.

But Lord Berkeley, former deputy chairman of the government's independent review into the project, said it could climb to £107bn.

As of June, the total spent so far was £24.7bn (at 2019 prices).

Read more: Irony of PM's long-term vision is short-term calculation behind it - analysis What's next for transport in the north?

What was the route going to be?

Stations on the first phase of the line are meant to be London Euston, Old Oak Common in west London, Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street.

The second phase was meant to see trains head northwest to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly, or use existing lines via Wigan, Crewe and Stafford.

The route had also been planned to go northeast from Birmingham towards the East Midlands Hub at Toton.

From there, before the eastern extension was cancelled, the trains were due to continue on the HS2 line to Leeds, with others diverging onto existing lines via Chesterfield and York.

The original plans were:

• Phase 1: London Euston to Birmingham Curzon Street, with intermediate stations at Old Oak Common in the western suburbs and at Birmingham Airport • Phase 2a: To extend the line from Fradley in the West Midlands to Crewe in Cheshire • Phase 2b: Comprised of an eastern leg from the West Midlands to the East Midlands and a western leg from Crewe to Manchester

How has it changed?

The eastern leg between Birmingham and Leeds was reduced and will end in the East Midlands.

In March, it was confirmed construction between Birmingham and Crewe would be delayed by two years and that services may not enter central London until the 2040s.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced work at Euston would be paused for two years as costs were forecast to almost double to £4.8bn

Despite concerns the route would only stretch to Old Oak Common in west London, Mr Sunak has said it will run into London Euston - however, it is understood this will rely on private investment.

If enough money is not found, HS2 will permanently stop at Old Oak Common.

The rail line will stop in Manchester, but from Birmingham it will switch to use existing West Coast Mainline track - meaning it will not be high-speed.

What will replace the Birmingham-Manchester line?

Mr Sunak says the government will "reinvest every single penny" saved from cancelling the HS2 route, which he said amounts to £36bn.

This money will go towards funding "hundreds of new transport projects" in the North and the Midlands

"Every region outside of London will receive the same or more government investment than they would have done under HS2 with quicker results," Mr Sunak pledged.

He said this includes:

• Being able to get from Manchester to a new station in Bradford in 30 minutes • Being able to get from Manchester to Sheffield in 42 minutes • Being able to get from Manchester to Hull to 84 minutes, all on a "fully electrified line" • Protection of £12bn funding to link up Liverpool and Manchester • Build the Leeds tram and Midlands rail hub • Expansion for the West Midlands metro system • Upgrades to the A1, A2, A5 and M6 • Funding for the Shipley bypass and Blyth relief road, as part of 70 road schemes • Resurfacing of roads "across the country"

Where did the idea for HS2 all begin?

In 2009, under Labour transport secretary Geoff Hoon, the government set up a company, HS2 Ltd, to look at proposals for a new high-speed line.

The following year, the Department for Transport (DfT) set out plans for a Y-shaped network connecting London and the cities in the North.

Later, under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, it was confirmed that the line would be built in two phases.

Phase 1 would run from London to the West Midlands, beginning in 2026. That's been pushed back to between 2029 and 2033. Euston Station is not due to open until 2035.

Phase 2, extending from the West Midlands to cities in the North, was meant to start in 2032-33. But that was moved to any time from 2034 and 2041, before decisions to scrap it.

Why did HS2 fall so behind schedule?

By July 2019, the government accepted that the timetable was no longer feasible and has continued to change opening times.

Reasons for the delay included a year spent revising cost and schedule estimates for phase 1 and more time being needed for construction at various sites.

In August 2019, the government announced an independent review of the programme to advise on whether to proceed.

And in March of this year the government announced more construction would be delayed by two years to save money.

The COVID-19 pandemic probably didn't help with progress, either.

In a written ministerial statement earlier this year, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the government is "prioritising HS2's initial services" between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street.

Why have the costs risen so much?

In one word: inflation.

A report in January 2020 by the National Audit Office (NAO) - the spending watchdog - said HS2 Ltd had not accounted for the level of uncertainty and risk in the plans.

It used a method for calculating how much extra might be needed "that was not appropriate for a programme at such an early stage of development".

Among the factors causing higher costs were commitments to increase the length of tunnelling and to erect noise barriers.

The NAO said the government and HS2 Ltd had "not adequately managed risks to taxpayer money".

More money was needed for building bridges, tunnels and stations than first thought.

Complex issues involving the discovery of asbestos and archaeological remains, and the need to divert more gas and power lines than expected, have caused problems too.

More money was also needed to buy properties to make way for the rail line.

Even after these have been accounted for, there is uncertainty around the cost of extending London's Euston station to accommodate the high-speed trains.

Related Topics

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

How will HS2 change journey times to and from London?

The head of HS2 wants to start building the northern section of the line earlier than planned, which would mean the journey to Crewe from London would be reduced by over a third as early as 2027. What do planners estimate the differences in journey times to be to other UK cities?

How long will high speed rail take to transport you to Crewe? Well, if the chairman of HS2’s recommendations are accepted then it will be, at the time of writing, approximately 13 years and 58 minutes.

Sir David Higgins has called for the construction of the second northern stage of the line to start at a similar time as the southern section from London to Birmingham . This would mean that travellers would be able to travel on the train from the capital to Crewe in just 55 minutes as early as 2027.

To recap on the effect of the project, we thought we’d show you the planned reductions in journey times to other important stations from London according to a Department for Transport (DfT) document from January last year. Under the current plans, HS2 should reach northern cities such as Manchester and Leeds by 2032 or 2033, with phase one of the network to Birmingham opening in 2026.

So the biggest reduction in terms of number of minutes will be Manchester Airport, which will have a huge 75 minutes lopped off its journey time from London. To view the true scale of reduction though, take a look at the chart below.

That75 minute reduction in journey time to Manchester Airport means that the journey has been reduced by 59%, which is the largest proportional drop. Crewe fares well with a 35.6% reduction. The destinations listed that will have the least change in journey time are the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, with the latter only losing 12.1% off travelling time.

Still having trouble visualising it? Take a look at this animation of a day in the life of Britain’s future rail network that the Datablog published back in 2012.

• Rail transport

More on this story

HS2 safeguarding directions legally flawed, high court told

Higher power: HS2 proposals opposed by Church of England

HS2 bill clears second reading as senior minister threatens to resign

HS2: at least three Tory ministers to miss key Commons vote

HS2 bill likely to pass second reading but Tory rebels will fight another day

MPs debate HS2: Politics live blog

HS2 backers expect MPs' resounding support as bill moves closer to go ahead

HS2 homeowners offered improved compensation

Comments (…), most viewed.

DVLA announces major driving licence change that could impact thousands of drivers

Motorists can now renew their photocard driving licence and apply for a first provisional licence through their account.

HS2: is it faster?

What was claimed.

It will take longer to get from Wakefield to London using HS2 than it does today.

Our verdict

Today a journey from Leeds to London takes around two hours. Using HS2 and going via Leeds, the journey could be around 25 minutes faster, though this doesn’t account for the time taken to change trains and board HS2, and compares current train times with the fastest possible estimates for HS2.

HS2 will only take a few minutes off the current journey time.

Current government figures suggest that anything from 13 to 102 minutes could be taken off journey times from the north to London and Birmingham. This is comparing the current fastest times to the fastest times once HS2 is fully running in 2033.

“[HS2] is only going to save a few minutes off the journeys.” Tim Stanley, 1 December 2016

“Guess what, it won't stop here, you can't get on the train here, we have to go to Leeds so it will take longer to get to London from Wakefield than it does today.” BBC Question Time audience member, 1 December 2016

The government has produced an analysis of the estimated time it will take to get from “major economic centres” to either London Euston station or Birmingham Curzon Street when the planned HS2 rail network is built. The analysis says these estimates are based on the “fastest typical times” now and the fastest possible journey on HS2.

According to these figures, journey times to London Euston will reduce by up to 81 minutes (from Manchester Airport) or by just 13 minutes (from Derby).

To Birmingham Curzon Street the greatest reduction in journey time will be from Leeds, down 69 minutes , and the smallest reduction in time will be from Sheffield Midland, down just 15 minutes from current journey times.

There will be the same reduction in time between Leeds and Sheffield Midland (15 minutes) while journey times between Leeds and Birmingham Interchange will drop by 102 minutes.

Of course these are just estimates of the fastest possible times. Actual journeys might take longer. And not all of the cities included in the analysis will be directly on the HS2 line. The timings take into account the overall impact of HS2 on the rail network.

But what about journeys from Wakefield to London?

Currently it takes around two hours  to get a train directly from Wakefield to Kings Cross station in London.

Assuming that a journey to London using HS2 also goes from Wakefield via Leeds the journey could be a bit faster, but that’s comparing current train times to the fastest possible times projected by the government.

According the government's most recent figures , when the second phase of HS2 is completed in 2033 the journey time from Leeds to London Euston station will have decreased from 131 minutes to 81 minutes, including a five-minute interchange at a new East Midlands hub.

Travelling from Wakefield to Leeds by train currently takes as little as 13 minutes (though it can take over 35 minutes), according to National Rail. This would suggest that a train journey from Wakefield to London using HS2 would take at least 94 minutes, although this doesn’t account for time taken to change trains in Leeds or changes in existing train times by 2033.

• By Claire Milne
• Share this:

Was this helpful?

Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.

Related fac t checks

• UKIP Manifesto: Costs of HS2
• HS2 has not cost £100 billion to date
• Debt isn’t ‘cleared’ if an offer of payment in cash is refused
• Employees do not pay 12% in National Insurance
• National Insurance contributions don’t determine how much is spent on health and welfare
• Did you find this fact check useful?

Full Fact fights bad information

Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.

Explainer: What's happening to HS2, Britain's costly high-speed railway?

• Medium Text

WHICH PART OF HS2 HAS BEEN SCRAPPED?

What will replace it, what is hs2, the rationale for hs2, how much does hs2 cost, cutbacks and status, why is hs2 so contentious, which companies are involved.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Writing by by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by Mark Heinrich and Alex Richardson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

World Chevron

Russian missiles pound Ukraine's embattled energy system

Russia staged a major missile and drone strike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure early on Thursday, damaging substations and power facilities in five regions and causing emergency power cuts for at least 200,000 people, Kyiv officials said.

Thu 11 Apr 2024

2024 newspaper of the year

@ Contact us

Your newsletters

Where will HS2 stop? The new route map explained after the Manchester leg of the rail project is cancelled

Once upon a time, hs2 was meant to run high-speed from london to manchester and leeds - i explains how it has shrunk.

Rishi Sunak’s decision to axe the northern leg of HS2 is yet another scaling-back of the multi-billion pound project.

Under the new plans, high-speed trains will only run between London and Birmingham, before switching over to the existing West Coast Main Line between Birmingham and Manchester.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper defended the decision on Thursday, insisting that “saving the £36bn we were due to spend” on HS2 would allow the Government to “[invest] every penny” in alternative transport projects.

But experts have told i that the new route could lead to rising fares and even fewer trains, as the West Coast Main Line does not have the capacity for an increase in passengers.

Once upon a time, HS2 was meant to run high-speed all the way from London to both Manchester and Leeds.

Here we explain what the revised high-speed route will look like, and how the project has changed – and shrunk – over the years.

Phase 1: London to Birmingham

The only remaining “high-speed” leg of HS2 will run from London Euston, through a new rail hub at Old Oak Common in west London, then on to Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street. This is where HS2 trains will join the West Coast Main Line for the journey to Manchester.

Major HS2 factory facing closure... before it can make a single HS2 train

This phase is scheduled to open between 2029 and 2033. Mr Harper said that the Government had already spent £20bn on this section, and construction of the line is under way in parts of London, Warwickshire, and Buckinghamshire.

It had been suggested that the Government could scrap plans for HS2 to run from London Euston over cost concerns, and instead terminate at Old Oak Common. But in his speech on Wednesday, Mr Sunak confirmed that the line would start and finish at the station, although the project would no longer be run by HS2 management.

Phase 2a: Birmingham to Crewe

Phase two, which has now been scrapped , was in two parts, 2a and 2b, and ended in Manchester.

Phase 2a would have seen a high-speed line running from Lichfield in the West Midlands to Crewe, before services joined up with the existing network so passengers could travel on to Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle, and Glasgow.

Phase 2b: Crewe to Manchester

The high-speed line from Crewe to Manchester will no longer go ahead. It had already been delayed: in March 2023, the Government said that the Birmingham and Crewe leg would be delayed by two years to cut costs. Ministers had previously said the line was “on track” to be completed between 2030 and 2034.

What else has been cut?

In 2021, the Government announced that the eastern leg of HS2, connecting Manchester to Leeds, would not be built.

Grant Schapps, the then transport secretary, said at the time that the planned link to Manchester would instead stop at an existing East Midlands station. As part of the announcement, ministers pledged that the existing TransPennine route would be improved.

The Government estimated that scaling back the eastern route of HS2 would save around £18bn.

How will journey times be affected?

Scrapping the northern leg of HS2 will mean some of the time savings on the route will be lost. Here are the time savings that were expected before the announcement to axe the northern leg.

• London-Birmingham   (phase 1) : Down from one hour 21 minutes to 45 minutes – time saving of 36 minutes. This phase is still going ahead.
• London-Manchester : Down from two hours six minutes to one hour 41 minutes with completion of phase 1 – saving of 25 minutes. Phase 1 is still going ahead. On completion of phase 2b, it would have gone down further to one hour 11 minutes. This phase has been axed.
• Birmingham-Manchester : On completion of phase 2b, journey times would have gone down from one hour 26 minutes to 41 minutes. They will remain unchanged – this phase has been axed.

Most Read By Subscribers

HS2 route map and journey times explained as rail lines slashed in 'betrayal of north'

Will HS2 still serve Sheffield, Toton, Nottingham, Birmingham to Leeds, Manchester, Chesterfield and East Midlands Hub? We explain the route map, journey times - and why Boris Johnson’s cost-cutting ‘betrayal’ has sparked fury

• 15:36, 18 Nov 2021
• Updated 16:34, 18 Nov 2021

Boris Johnson has sparked fury by slashing back tens of billions of pounds worth of rail upgrades for the north.

HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail have both been downgraded in a long-awaited Integrated Rail Plan.

Keir Starmer said Boris Johnson had “ripped up” his own promises and fallen at the first ‘levelling up’ hurdle, adding: “The North of England has been betrayed.”

An interviewer asked Boris Johnson if he thought northerners were "stupid" after he tried to spin the announcement by saying: “This is a fantastic and a monumental achievement and a great day for rail in this country.”

The PM claimed: “What we’re doing is not just the big 'Y' of HS2 but we’re also doing NPR that runs from Liverpool to Warrington to Manchester to Leeds to York.”

Yet neither of those claims are the full truth at all, and it will be the mid-2040s by the time even the stripped-back projects are complete.

Here are all the details of the schemes - which may go some way to explain why so many people are so angry.

What has changed?

Two massive, long-planned rail projects have been watered down, after fears they would cost up to £185bn.

Now they’ll cost £96bn. More could be spent in future but tens of billions of pounds have still been cut from the projects.

The first big change is to High Speed 2 (HS2). The second is Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).

What has happened to HS2?

HS2 was meant to be a brand new Y-shaped line, first from London to Birmingham, then branching west to Manchester and east to Leeds.

The West leg is still on but East has been scrapped.

The new East line will only run to East Midlands Parkway near Nottingham. From there, HS2 trains will then run on existing track to Nottingham in one direction and Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield in the other.

Officials claim this is an improvement for Derby and Nottingham, which will now get direct HS2 trains instead of having to get to a parkway station in Toton.

But HS2 trains will not run to Leeds at all. There will be a £100m study to look at whether they might in future.

What has happened to NPR?

NPR was envisaged by many as a new, dedicated east-west line from Liverpool to Manchester and Leeds.

Instead, there will be a new high-speed track only part of the way, from Warrington to Marsden in Yorkshire (through Manchester and Manchester Airport).

Technically NPR trains will still run from Liverpool to York through Warrington, Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds. But much of it will be on existing track, limiting journey times and capacity.

The government claimed building a full Manchester-Leeds NPR line anew would have cost £18bn more to save four minutes off the journey.

But crucially, axing it means scrapping plans for a new through station in Bradford - England’s seventh-largest city.

What promises has Boris Johnson broken?

The Prime Minister told Parliament in February: "I can certainly confirm that we are going to develop the eastern leg as well as the whole of the HS2."

He also pledged in 2019 to deliver a high-speed NPR line at least from Leeds to Manchester, adding: “I want to be the PM who does with Northern Powerhouse Rail what we did with Crossrail in London.”

The 2019 Tory manifesto repeated that promise saying: "We will build Northern Powerhouse Rail between Leeds and Manchester."

Neither of those things are happening in full.

What is the route map?

Below is the core route map for HS2 and NPR by the 2040s.

HS2 trains will leave London Euston, stopping at Old Oak Common station in the capital, and run to Birmingham Interchange (the airport) and Birmingham city centre.

North of Birmingham the line will branch, with a new high-speed track west to Crewe, Manchester Airport and Manchester.

The eastern track will end at East Midlands Parkway, with trains continuing on (upgraded) existing track to Nottingham, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield.

Northern Powerhouse Rail will run from York to Liverpool through Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester, Manchester Airport and Warrington. But only the Huddersfield-to-Warrington stretch will use a new high-speed track, with the rest running on existing track.

Separately there will be upgrades to the East Coast, Midland and Transpennine lines.

Will HS2 still run to Sheffield and Leeds?

HS2 trains from London will still run to Sheffield. A large portion of that journey will be on existing slower track, though the government insists the journey time from London to Sheffield will remain the same as planned at 87 minutes..

HS2 trains will not run to Leeds. There will be a project to see how bringing trains to Leeds could be achieved.

Will NPR still run to Bradford?

Yes, NPR will run from Leeds to Bradford on a branch line with a supposed journey time of 12 minutes.

But there will not be a new line with a new station in Bradford, meaning those wanting to go to Manchester must either change in Leeds, or take the slow train via Halifax.

What will journey times be like?

Faster than now - but slower than under the previous plans.

Grant Shapps boasted journeys will fall from 86 to 51 minutes for Manchester to Birmingham; 86 to 58 minutes for London to Derby; 74 to 26 minutes for Brimingham to Nottingham; 55 to 33 minutes for Leeds to Manchester; and 50 minutes to 35 minutes from Liverpool to Manchester.

But London to Leeds will take 113 minutes - 32 minutes longer than if the city had got HS2.

And journeys from the capital to York, Darlington and Newcastle will all take longer than they would have done under HS2.

Birmingham to Newcastle will take 167 minutes - 50 minutes longer than previously planned.

Journeys from London to Glasgow will still take three hours and 48 minutes; 40 minutes faster than currently.

Scroll down for a full table of journey times.

What will happen to capacity?

Officials insist upgrades will improve capacity across several lines, but critics say this will not happen as much as it would have done with HS2.

HS2 and NPR trains will have to squeeze into existing lines with services that are already running with more stops.

And Leeds is an obvious loser on capacity; it would have had an extra London line in the form of HS2, but instead it will have to rely on the existing network.

How frequent will the trains be?

The government claims train frequency will rise as follows by the mid-2040s.

• Birmingham-Manchester: From 1 to 4 trains per hour
• Birmingham-Nottingham: From 2 to 4 trains per hour
• Birmingham-Leeds: From 1 to 3 trains per hour
• Leeds-Manchester: From 3 to 8 trains per hour
• Liverpool-Manchester: From 3 to 6 trains per hour
• Liverpool-Leeds: From 1 to 4 trains per hour

There would also be “5 to 7” trains per hour running through the HS2 western leg via Crewe.

But this will not be as dramatic as it would have been under full previous plans. Other lines will simply see “no reduction in frequency”

When will it all be finished?

Not for two decades or more.

Sly Tory ministers claimed the upgrades would come into service quicker than HS2 and NPR would have done.

They said HS2 would only have reached Leeds in 2041 while full NPR from Manchester and Leeds would take until 2043.

Yet the small print shows many of the headline measures still won’t be finished until the “early to MID 2040s”, despite being stripped back. The timetable for completions is now…

By around 2030:

• NPR services on the existing Transpennine route from Leeds and York to Manchester.
• Upgrades and electrifications to the existing Midland Main Line, East Coast Main Line, Sheffield to Manchester line and Bradford to Leeds line.

By around 2035:

• HS2 from London to Birmingham, West Midlands and Crewe.

By the ‘early to mid 2040s’

• HS2 West from Crewe to Manchester.
• Surviving section of HS2 East to East Midlands Parkway.
• Surviving high speed NPR section east of Manchester.
• Liverpool to Manchester added to NPR network.

Full table of journey times

According to the government’s plan, this is how journey times compare between now, the original full HS2/NPR plans, and the new plans.

Key: City name, journey time in minutes (NOW), proposed journey time (PREVIOUS PLAN), proposed journey time (NEW PLAN)

From London:

• Nottingham 92 83 57
• Derby 86 83 58
• Sheffield 118 87 87
• Manchester 126 71 71
• Liverpool 132 94 92
• Leeds 133 81 113
• York 112 84 98
• Darlington 142 113 125
• Newcastle 169 137 148

From Birmingham:

• Nottingham 74 55 26
• Derby 34 30 30
• Sheffeld 75 65 62
• Manchester 86 41 41–51
• Leeds 118 49 89
• York 147 57 110
• Darlington 175 85 136
• Newcastle 206 117 167

From Manchester:

• Liverpool 50 29 35
• Leeds 55 29 33
• York 83 51 55
• Darlington 115 77 81
• Newcastle 139 103 117

From Leeds:

• Liverpool 106 61 73
• Manchester 55 29 33
• Bradford 20 8 12
• York 22 17 19
• Darlington 50 43 45
• Newcastle 81 74 76

MORE ON Grant Shapps Boris Johnson Halifax Inc. Manchester Airport Railways Politics

Get uk politics insight with our free daily email briefing straight to your inbox.

Site Search

Hs2 journey times.

A topical resource that requires students to interpret a news infographic and calculate the difference between two times. There is also a second question for Level 2 learners on Speed, Distance, Time. As well as enabling students to practise time calculations it can lead to discussion about this controversial rail project.

Editor's notes

Really topical and interesting. With curriculum mapping. No answer sheet.

• Log in to post comments
• HS2 Compass points, position and bearings
• Valentine Meal Deal - E3, L1 & L2 Functional Maths
• Leap year Functional Maths challenge
• Booking into a salon Level 1-2
• Apollo Missions Functional Maths
• Pancake day in Exdale - E1, E2, E3, L1 & L2 Functional Maths
• E2-E3 How to check your answers with reverse calculations
• Costings for one pan pasta
• L2 Currency Conversions
• Imperial and Metric Measures Excel quiz sheets

TRAINS FOR HS2 TECHNICAL SPEC HAS ITS MOMENTS

While not in the IEP league, this sighting shot raises the odd eyebrow

Published with the start of the HS2 rolling stock procurement process, the Pre-Qualification Technical Summary (PQTS) occupies a modest 38 pages, of which 16 are devoted to performance, five to functionality and four to interiors. The specification covers the 60 or so Conventional Compatible Very High Speed Trains (CCVHST) that will spend a fair proportion of their working life running on the West Coast main line when they enter service from 2026.

Readers will note that, as always, I have spelled out that last abbreviation. But throughout the specification HS2 refers to the ‘TMM’, assuming we all know what it means. Call me pedantic, but long experience in this acronym and abbreviation-rich industry has taught to expect gently chiding correspondence from readers if I spray TLAs around without elucidation (TLA? - Ed) .

Three Letter Acronym. So a hint of sloppiness early on. But a quick check with the associated notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) revealed that TMM stands for Train Manufacturer and Maintainer.

One TLA that is explained is CRN, for Conventional Rail Network. This aligns with Conventional Compatible.

Let’s start with the main characteristics of the new railway. It is being designed for a maximum speed of at least 360km/h (225 mile/h). The European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 will be fitted throughout and Automatic Train Operation (ATO) will be standard.

Construction will be to GC and GI2 gauges, with a nominal platform height of 1,115mm. HS2 had been trying to persuade the European Railway Agency to adopt a UK special of 1,100-1,200mm in addition to the standard 550mm and 750mm specified in the Infrastructure Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI) plus the GB-specific case of 915mm.

The addition of the 1,200mm height was opposed by the Community of European Railways on the grounds that, if it was in the TSI, mainland operators might decide to use it, wrecking cross-border interoperability. Why such a high platform? HS2 claims that it is necessary to provide level access with the vehicle floor-height needed to accommodate the larger wheel diameter predicated by 360km/h running.

With CRN platforms built to a nominal height of 915mm, ‘but with significant variation’, the CCVHST is going to present an interesting challenge for the door designers.

Long tunnels under the Chilterns and London suburbs will be single bore and smaller than tunnels on other high-speed lines. Micro pressure-wave mitigation will be incorporated into tunnel portals.

Some ‘particular’ features of the CRN are noted. Colour light signals are protected by Automatic Warning System (AWS) and Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS), although ‘European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 may be fitted during the life of the rolling stock’. Given that the service life is specified at 35 years, that takes us out to Control Period 13.

Compared with the constant 5.08m height of the HS2 overhead line electrification contact wire, the height of the wire on the CRN is described with masterly understatement as ‘variable’. Pantograph compatibility is likely to be another interesting issue.

Maximum linespeeds are quoted as ‘up to’ 125 mile/h on the East Coast main line (ECML) and 110 mile/h on the West Coast (WCML). The latter is qualified as ‘assuming no tilt’ although ‘linespeeds may be raised in the future through infrastructure works and resignalling’ (‘Informed Sources’, June).

Given the lack of funding for enhancements on the CRN in Control Period 6 (2019-24), plus the fact that any enhancements funding available must go to the ECML if the step-up in paths essential to the 2022 timetable is to be achieved, CCVHSTs could be limited to 110 mile/h in 2026.

And note that despite being described as a ‘technical document’, I have corrected those imperial speed abbreviations from the ‘mph’ that is used throughout. Am I being overly pedantic? No, in a technical document I find this lack of rigour irritating.

Demonstrating the trains’ compatibility with the infrastructure will be the responsibility of the TMM. This will be interesting on both HS2 and the CRN.

As noted previously, the 360km/h ‘anticipated’ maximum speed exceeds the technical scope of the relevant Technical Specification for Interoperability, which assumes that 350km/h is fast enough. Some consultants are going to make a lot of money extrapolating specifications to allow for that extra 10km/h. Incidentally, a leading European overhead line equipment (OHLE) supplier for high-speed lines told me recently that above 320km/h the maintenance needed increases not with speed squared but ‘exponentially’. ‘Every extra 1km/h makes a difference’, he warned.

As for the CRN, HS2 Ltd is working with Network Rail to agree interface requirements that will be incorporated into the Train Technical Specification (TTS). While compliance with these requirements ‘will support compatibility with the CRN’, the TMM will remain responsible for gaining formal agreement with Network Rail.

Talking of acceptance, at the suppliers’ day the potential TMMs were told ‘once we’ve actually got a train to work with, we’ll need to carry out extensive off-network testing to prove the capability and reliability of the design before we take anything onto the new high-speed network or our conventional network for real’. That raises the interesting question of where do you prove the capability and reliability of a 360km/h train off the network?

PERFORMANCE

There are three sets of performance parameters in the PQTS that apply to both a 200m unit or two units running in multiple (404m long).

In line with current procurement techniques a journey time is specified, rather than a maximum speed. Two journeys are identified.

For London Euston-Birmingham Curzon Street the journey time is less than 45min 30sec, including stops at Old Oak Common and Birmingham Interchange stations with a two-minute dwell time at each. This represents an operational margin over the timetabled 49-min journey time.

Similarly, between London Euston and Glasgow Central via the Handsacre Junction connection with the WCML the time must be less than 3hr 45min 30sec. The PQTS notes that the journey times for two units in multiple on the CRN are still under consideration. It adds, ‘a train current limit of 300A will constrain achievable journey times for longer formations and (HS2) is therefore investigating whether the maximum line current can be increased for the CRN’. The current limit on HS2 is 1,070A.

Braking for this purpose will be the ‘ATO Maximum Brake Rate’ shown in Table 4. Maximum adhesion is assumed to be 15%.

PULLING AWAY

Acceleration is the second performance parameter, with several scenarios specified. The basic requirement is for a train to reach a speed of 360km/h and cover a distance of 40km in no more than 535 seconds from a standing start on straight and level track.

Two other acceleration tests are 200km/h to 360km/h, also over a distance of 40km, in no more than 450 seconds. And 230km/h to 360km/h, in no more than 440 seconds, while covering 40km.

However, the PQTS notes that this level of acceleration will not be required until the Phase 2 timetable is introduced with its 18 trains per hour and the need to slot into the traffic in the core section of the HS2 network.

Braking is specified in terms of deceleration in m/s2. I find a percentage of the force of gravity easier to appreciate. Cant deficiency can be expressed in the same way, so the maximum lateral acceleration you should feel when curving at Enhanced Permissible Speeds is 6%g. Similarly a full service brake application with IC125 is 9%g.

I have added the %g equivalent in the two tables. Table 4 is the ‘ATO Maximum Brake Rate’ referred to above and Table 5 the ‘ATO Normal Brake Rate’.

A unit should be able to regenerate 100% of the energy from braking, after losses, at the ATO Normal Brake Rate. However, the braking performance in Table 4 must also be achievable without relying on the regenerative braking. Cue some very hot brake pads after the acceptance test.

There will be a contractual energy consumption limit to be agreed between the TMM and HS2 with incentives to reduce consumption applied through the whole-life value evaluation model in the contract. This will be based on the standard Euston-Curzon Street 49-min run, with two stops, measured over a return journey.

Energy, measured at the pantograph, will include traction, auxiliary and heating, ventilation and air conditioning loads net of regenerated energy. Energy consumed during terminal station turnrounds is excluded.

HS2’s business case is based on an assumed energy consumption of 22.6 kWh/unit-km. That figure is meaningless unless you know the duty. But to give it some context I have raided Professor Roger Kemp’s 2007 paper for the Rail Safety & Standards Board (Table 6).

THAT SARDINE MOMENT

ID: PQTS-119 – Maximum Route Availability (§7.10.3) The Unit shall not exceed Route Availability of RA7 calculated in accordance with GE/RT8006[22]. For this calculation, exceptional payload shall include a standing passenger loading of 320kg/m².

Rationale: A payload of 320kg/m² is specified by GE/RT8006, and is separate from the Exceptional Payload used for other performance characteristics.

RF notes: Elsewhere the average passenger weight, including luggage, is given as 90kg. So HS2 is assuming full and standing loadings of 3.5 passengers per m2.

Running through the table, the first Pendolino column is measured consumption on a London-Manchester run but before the Virgin High Frequency timetable was introduced. Hard driving was not required. In contrast column 2, using modelled performance data, has an 11-car Class 390 running to the accelerated timetable, over the same route.

There are various modelled data for IC225 quoted in the Kemp paper. Roger Kemp also refers to an Association of Train Operating Companies study that gave the average for the IC225 electric fleet of 1.151kWh per vehicle kilometre. Counting the loco as a ‘vehicle’, this gives 17.7kWh/unit-km.

Bearing in mind that only the nine-car Class 390 figure is ‘real world’, readers may care to ponder why a Class 91 with no recovery of braking energy has the same unit consumption as a Pendolino with regenerative braking. Intuitively I suspect this may be attributed to the relative lack of braking on the East Coast racing ground.

But it does raise the issue of how a CCVHST, albeit a shorter formation, going harry flatters at 360km/h, can match the energy consumption of a Class 390 or IC225. I suspect we shall have to wait for the Train Technical Specification to see the route and speed profile generating such frugality.

Note that I have also included the Alstom AGV, which HS2 has used for the ‘reference train’ in developing the business case.

CROSS-SECTION

HS2 is flexible on gauging, a sensible move since a variety of vehicle configurations may emerge. Two reference vehicle gauges will be provided, for 23m and 25m vehicles with 16m and 17m bogie spacings. However a minimum internal cross-section for the passenger saloon will be specified.

Provided that these minimum internal dimensions are maintained, tenderers will be able to propose an alternative vehicle gauge. Possible changes could reflect running gear arrangement, static profile or vehicle length.

An interesting concept floated by HS2 is the ability to match the train to different duties. The 49-min London-Birmingham dash and 3hr 30min for London-Glasgow are instanced. Ideally, says HS2, the interior design would be adaptable ‘to support changes in use during the week or even during a single day’.

Other examples of spaces that can adapt to different user needs include accommodating business travellers in the week and families and groups of leisure travellers at weekends. Similarly, providing space for ‘bulky luggage on a Sunday evening without sacrificing seats on Monday morning’.

While we’re on interiors, a thoughtful touch is the specification of minimum door widths at 900mm, 100mm more than the Passengers with Reduced Mobility TSI. The PQTS notes 800mm is considered insufficient for manual wheelchair users as it allows only 50mm per side for the user’s hands. 900mm is also required for a person using crutches or a walking frame.

RELIABILITY

This is really going to make the bidders sweat, or get the lawyers smiling. HS2’s reliability target gives a moving annual average (MAA) delay per service ‘on the HS2 Network’ of no greater than 30 seconds at destination.

That is for the railway as a whole. Train reliability assumes 60 units travelling 610-670,000km per year.

This gives a Mean Distance Between Failures (MDBF) causing a delay of over three minutes of at least 300,000km. Now the Golden Spanners awards are based on Miles Per Technical Incident (MTIN) and a TIN is generated when a train has stopped for three minutes.

So HS2 is looking for 186,000 MTIN. This compares with the current most reliable electric train on the network, the Siemens Class 444 Desiro, of 166,772 MTIN. Think on’t, as they say. It certainly rules out tilt, since nothing is so reliable as the system you don’t fit.

MDBF for a delay of over 60 minutes ‘and/or requiring detrainment and evacuation of passengers between stations’ is at least 4.3 million miles.

Reliability targets may also be specified for key components of the overall HS2 operation. Examples quoted are station stops that exceed the allocated dwell time due to a unit fault and transitions between HS2 and CRN similarly delayed.

Units may split or join mid-journey. Maximum coupling and separating time is two minutes. To minimise the impact on journey time, normal station operations will have to continue during this time.

That two minutes includes the time needed to re-configure systems into a single operational train and for the combined train to receive a movement authority. HS2 hopes that technology could allow safe and seamless automation of this process, ‘saving valuable minutes and making the service more intuitive for our customers’.

PASSENGER CAPACITY

HS2 is working on the basis of 528 seats in a 200m unit, split 80-85% standard, 20-15% first. In standard class, airline seating knee room for a 95th percentile male is 80mm, or 160mm for two 95th percentile males sitting opposite each other. For first class seating the clearances are 2,540mm and 500mm respectively. A 95th percentile male is 6ft 1in in old money.

I’LL HAVE THE KIPPERS PLEASE

PQTS-367 – RIL First Class Catering (§9.1.9) The Reference Interior Layout shall include facilities to prepare at-seat first class meals, cooked on-board.

Originally published in Modern Railways Magazine

Subscribe to key modern railway online.

Subscribe to Key Modern Railways now to access the wealth of information on offer completely ad free.

Subscribe now

Birmingham Curzon Street

Birmingham Curzon Street Station, which will be net zero carbon in operation, will be the first brand new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 19th Century

Sitting at the heart of the high-speed rail network, it will give people more choice about where they live, work and play.

The station itself will be net zero carbon in operation and adopt the latest eco-friendly design and sustainable technologies, including capturing rainwater and utilising sustainable power generation, with over 2,800m2 of solar panels located on platform canopies.

It is designed to meet a ‘BREEAM excellent’ standard, which is an industry recognised standard for buildings that reduce energy usage and materials waste and minimise their impact on the natural environment.

Station construction

HS2’s contractor Mace Dragados Joint Venture (MDJV) have been in Stage One of the contract since 2021, working with HS2 Ltd to develop the detailed programme. Starting January 2024, they will deliver major earthworks to prepare the site for piling and foundations work in the Spring, with construction of the main station building due to start in the Summer.

During construction itself, hundreds of jobs will be created, including an estimated 100 new entrant roles, new apprenticeship positions and Restart scheme opportunities for unemployed people.

Work on the station façade will begin in Summer 2025, with construction of concourse steelwork and the roof due to start in Autumn 2025. The internal fit-out of the station will start towards the end of 2025 and finish at the end of 2028. Operational testing and commissioning will run from Summer 2026 to Autumn 2028.

HS2 worked with WSP and Grimshaw Architects LLP on the design for Curzon Street, which is inspired by the great arched roofs built by the Victorian railway pioneers. The design takes that inspiration into the 21st Century, ensuring accessibility and a focus on the open space and landscaping around it.

Once complete, HS2 will almost halve the journey time between London Euston and Birmingham to just 49 minutes, with trains running north via the existing rail network to destinations such as Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

Trains will approach Birmingham through a series of structures being delivered by HS2’s main works contractor for the West Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV). This includes the 3.5 mile Bromford Tunnel and a series of five connected viaducts from Washwood Heath, and over the existing Victorian railway line, Lawley Middleway and Digbeth Canal. The final approach to the station – Curzon Viaduct No.3, also being delivered by BBV, widens from a single deck to four separate decks, spanning 65 metres at the wideset point, to carry seven tracks to the platforms.

Find out more about our Curzon No.3 Viaduct

Slide 1 of 4: HS2 marked the start of construction [January 2024] on the landmark Birmingham Curzon Street Station – a new rail hub that will play a vital role in the long-term economic future of the West Midlands.

Slide 2 of 4: Curzon No.3 Viaduct first piers installed.

Slide 3 of 4: Curzon No.3 Viaduct first piers installed.

Slide 4 of 4: Curzon No.3 Viaduct first piers installed.

Station design

HS2 worked with WSP and Grimshaw Architects LLP on the design for Curzon Street, which is inspired by the great arched roofs built by the Victorian railway pioneers. The design takes that inspiration into the 21 st  Century, ensuring accessibility and a focus on the open space and landscaping around it.

Birmingham Curzon Street Station, which will be net zero carbon in operation, will be the first brand new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 19th Century.

The station will deliver excellent connectivity to Eastside and Digbeth to enable wider regeneration in the area. There will be seamless connections to the local transport network including buses and the Midland Metro with a tram line running alongside and under the station, connecting the city with Digbeth.

The new high speed rail station is being built on the site of Birmingham’s 19th Century station at Curzon Street. HS2 archaeology has unearthed one of its key features, a train roundhouse, the oldest in the world. The designs will also incorporate the existing historic Old Curzon Street building and link it to the new station’s eastern concourse at New Canal Street.

Find out more about our Archaeology programme

The designs also improve access to different modes of transport, with the Midland Metro running alongside and underneath the station, pedestrian routes to local bus services, Sprint rapid transit bus services and other train services, and space for more than 250 bicycles.

Birmingham City Council’s Curzon Street Investment Plan will see £724 million spent on regenerating the area around the new station. The scheme will take place over 30 years, leading to the creation of several new neighbourhoods across almost 150 hectares, including 4,000 homes and 36,000 jobs.

Slide 1 of 20: Artist's impression of Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1).

Slide 2 of 20: Artist's impression of Birmingham Curzon Street Station (2).

Slide 3 of 20: Artist's impression of the concourse at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1).

Slide 4 of 20: Artist's impression of the entrance at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1).

Slide 5 of 20: Artist's impression of the entrance at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (2).

Slide 6 of 20: Artist's impression of the entrance at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (3).

Slide 7 of 20: Artist's impression of an aerial view of Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1).

Slide 8 of 20: Artist's impression of an aerial view of Birmingham Curzon Street Station (2).

Slide 9 of 20: Artist's impression of the entrance at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (4).

Slide 10 of 20: Artist's impression of the concourse at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (2).

Slide 11 of 20: Artist's impression of the concourse at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (3).

Slide 12 of 20: Artist's impression of the platform entrances at Birmingham Curzon Street Station.

Slide 13 of 20: Artist's impression of the platform at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1).

Slide 14 of 20: Artist's impression of the platform at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (2).

Slide 15 of 20: Artist's impression of the platform at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (3).

Slide 16 of 20: Artist's impression of the public realm landscaping at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1).

Slide 17 of 20: Artist's impression of the public realm landscaping at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (2).

Slide 18 of 20: Artist's impression of the public realm landscaping at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (3).

Slide 19 of 20: Artist's impression of the concourse at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (4).

Slide 20 of 20: Artist's impression of the platform at Birmingham Curzon Street Station (4).

New public spaces around the station

The new station will feature four new public spaces, supporting travel, recreation and leisure:

• Station Square: Station Square will create a new, green and attractive meeting place in the city that will provide easy links into the city centre and Digbeth, generating a sense of local pride and identity. It’s been designed as the ‘front door’ to the HS2 journey to and from Birmingham.
• Curzon Square: This area will reflect its historic setting and buildings and complement the setting of Eastside City Park. It provides an enhanced setting for the Grade I listed former Curzon Street Station and Grade II listed Woodman pub. There will also be space for outdoor public events.
• Curzon Promenade: Curzon Promenade is located along the northern side of the station and links with Eastside City Park. This area will be used by pedestrians and cyclists who are heading towards the bus and Sprint stops north of the station, the Knowledge Quarter and future canalside developments. We’ve designed Curzon Promenade to encourage people to stop and enjoy the vibrant, characterful landscape which is made up of garden spaces that extend downhill to Curzon Square.
• Paternoster Place: As a gateway to Digbeth, Paternoster Place will provide a new, attractive pedestrian route and urban space that will open up a key link to the future regeneration potential of Digbeth. We’ve designed it to encourage activity and investment to Enterprise Zone sites.

BREEAM excellent Recognised standard for buildings that reduce energy usage and minimise impact on the natural environment.

Net zero carbon Net zero carbon in operation and adopt the latest eco-friendly design and sustainable technologies.

Capture rainwater Capturing rainwater and utilising sustainable power generation, with over 2,800m2 of solar panels located on platform canopies.

Arts, culture and heritage

We’ve worked with Birmingham City Council to develop designs that respect the existing historic Old Curzon Street Station building, and also link it to the new station’s eastern concourse at New Canal Street.

Public space will surround the new station which includes the area around the Old Curzon Street Station building. The design of the space will enhance the setting of the station and recognise the heritage of the site, in particular, the historic track alignments of the former goods yard that used to lie to its east.

The feature gardens and new eastern concourse façade have also been designed to complement the architecture of the existing Old Curzon Street Station building.

Curzon Promenade, the public spaces surrounding the new station, and the decision not to divert New Canal Street all retain and frame important views of the old station.

Kick-starting regeneration

We’re working with Birmingham City Council, Transport for West Midlands, Midland Metro Alliance, Network Rail and others to make sure that the station is well connected. Some of the key connections that will be provided include:

• The tram line that will run alongside and underneath the station
• A shared public space between Curzon Street and Moor Street stations to provide a simple and seamless connection between the two stations
• Straightforward pedestrian routes allowing easy access to local bus services, Sprint (a rapid transit bus service) and onwards to other train services
• ‘Station Square’ – a generous public space to be used as a destination and meeting space
• Good public transport, walking and cycling links into Digbeth and to both the Knowledge Quarter and the central business district in Birmingham City Centre
• Well-designed public spaces, including space for events and a seamless connection to Eastside City Park
• Improved pedestrian and cycling links between Digbeth Conservation Area and Birmingham’s Knowledge Quarter.

We’re working with Birmingham City Council to see how our design can best allow for any future improvements to the public space between Curzon Street Station, Moor Street Station and New Street Station to provide a seamless connection between these major stations.

We know that good cycling facilities at the station are important to you, so we’ve made sure that cycle parking has been carefully considered in the design of the new station. There’ll be more than 256 spaces for bicycles, with allocated space for 300 more in the future if required. We’ll clearly mark cycle and pedestrian routes in public spaces to work as part of the Birmingham Cycle Revolution (BCR) programme.

The  Curzon Street Masterplan outlines proposals for 141 hectares of regeneration. It covers the area that will house the HS2 Curzon Street station in Birmingham City Centre, along with £724 million in investment into the surrounding area. It envisages the creation of 36,000 new jobs, 4,000 new homes and 600,000 square metres of commercial development.

HS2 is boosting the region’s fast growing economy. Deutsche Bank, Jacobs Engineering and the retail banking arm of HSBC have relocated to Birmingham, with PwC significantly expanding its presence. Inward investment has created more jobs in the West Midlands than any other region outside London.

The West Midlands Combined Authority  HS2 Growth Strategy  has the potential to add £14 billion to the regional economy and support 100,000 jobs. HS2 is working with  Birmingham City Council ,  Solihull Council ,  West Midlands Combined Authority  and regional stakeholders to ensure that the region achieves the full potential of HS2.

Read how investing in transport for growth will power the  Midlands Engine .

What we're delivering for Birmingham Curzon Street

Old Curzon Street Station building

HS2 has announced the start of a major refurbishment project to restore the Grade 1 listed Old Curzon Street Station in Birmingham.

HS2 in the West Midlands

A comprehensive summary of the jobs, skills and supply chain benefits HS2 has already brought to the West Midlands can be found here.

Explore the In Your Area Map

Archaeology

The map displays information about our archaeological sites along the route.

Green Corridor

The map displays information about our environmental sites along the route.

HS2 funded projects

The map displays information about our funded community and business projects along the route.

Keeping you informed about our works

Stay informed about the works

Find information about HS2 works and activities taking place in your area.

Managing impacts of construction

Find out information about how we manage construction impacts.

Construction look-ahead

Read our three-month look ahead for associated work in Birmingham.

Find out what HS2 means for Birmingham

This section provides you with information about HS2 works and developments in your area.

Further information

Join our mailing list.

To receive email updates about the HS2 project, including how it’s being planned and constructed.

Sign up here

If you contact the Helpdesk, our Community Engagement Advisors will try to answer your questions immediately.

Last updated:

19th Feb 2024

A London Inheritance

A private history of a public city.

Euston Station and HS2 – A 2023 Update

In 2017, I photographed the area to the west of Euston Station, with a focus on  St. James’s Gardens, as this area was about to become the construction site for the expanded Euston Station, for the London terminus of HS2, a high speed railway that would run to Birmingham with branches to Manchester and the east Midlands.

Each year since 2017, I have made a return visit to the area around Euston Station, intending to photograph what was there before demolition, then the construction phase and finally the new Euston Station.

In recent years, the future of HS2 has been in doubt, and a couple of months ago, the Government announced that the northern sections would be dropped and that the London section between Old Oak Common and Euston Station would be paused.

In the latest HS2 6-monthly report to Parliament – November 2023 , it was stated that delivery remains on track for “Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street by 2029 to 2033” . There was no date given for completion of the section from Old Oak Common to Euston.

There is a list of all my previous HS2 posts at the end of this post, and after anticipating seeing a new station as the final post in this series, I now wonder whether I will ever get to see a new HS2 station at a redeveloped Euston.

The following map from the Media section of the HS2 website shows the route as it was still planned in 2022:

As well as pausing construction of the section from Old Oak Common to Euston, the November report to Parliament stats that “we will not proceed with Phase 2a, 2b or HS2 East” .

Much of the construction area is hidden behind panels, many of which have artwork and advertising that tells the story of what HS2 will bring to Euston, and the wider benefits of the project. Much of this now looks rather hollow and out of date, and includes the new Euston Station:

And as well as “building you a better Euston” , the following poster still states that HS2 will be “Connecting eight out of ten of Britain’s largest cities” , and will “More than double the number of train seats out of Euston in peak hours” :

And that improvements to the existing station will provide a “Bigger, better concourse, 100s of new seats, wider platform ramps” .

Extension of HS2 from Old Oak Common to Euston has been “paused”, and the November report to Parliament states that:

“We are going to scale back the project at Euston and adopt a new development led approach to the Euston Quarter which will deliver a station that works, is affordable and can be open and running trains as soon as possible. We will not provide design features we do not need and will instead deliver a 6-platform station which can accommodate the trains we will run to Birmingham and onwards and which best supports regeneration of the local area. In this way we will attract private funding and unlock the wider land development opportunities the new station offers, while radically reducing its costs to the taxpayer.”

But the most scary part of the new plans for Euston is this sentence in the November report:

“At Euston, we will appoint a development company, separate from HS2 Ltd, to manage the delivery of this project. We will also take on the lessons of success stories such as Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, which secured £9 billion of private sector investment and thousands of homes.”

Whilst economically, Nine Elms has been considered a success in bringing in considerable (mainly overseas) investment to develop the area, the Nine Elms development seems to have resulted in the random placement of individually designed tower blocks, without any apparent cohesive design for the area. The towers look as if they have been randomly dropped from the sky, with a height and density to maximise profit rather than to add character and improve a key part of London.

Is this the future for Euston? A station hiding underneath another vision of Nine Elms, delivering enough cash from developers to complete the section from Old Oak Common to Euston along with the new station, but with a focus on the needs of developers, rather than a new the design and build of a new station that could have served as the London terminus of a growing railway to the north of the country.

In the following map, I have added a red line to show the area which had been cleared for the new station, and the tracks leaving the station to head to Old Oak Common (Map  © OpenStreetMap contributors) :

HS2 have a couple of photos in the Media section of their website which shows the scale of the site. The following is looking at the site from the north:

And the following view is looking north, with Euston Station to the right:

Both of the above photos are available to download from the Construction section of the HS2 media Gallery at this link .

I suspect that the main problem that HS2 has had is the name – High Speed 2.

The slightly shorter journey time from London cannot really justify the expense of the project, and the additional speed will only really benefit journeys much further north than Birmingham.

The main benefit that HS2 provides is extra capacity on existing rail lines, such as the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

Transferring high speed trains from the existing WCML onto HS2 would have released a significant amount of extra capacity which could have been used for freight, additional passenger train services between many of the places on the WCML route, as well as increasing the number of high speed trains.

However, calling the project Extra Capacity 1, or EC1 does not sound as exciting as HS2, although it would have been a better description of the real benefits.

I started my 2023 walk on a weekday, when hopefully it would be clear how much work was still underway. My route started in Clarkson Row, just to the west of Mornington Crescent, as here you can just about see over the wall, across the existing tracks, to where new tracks will be run as the railway heads from Euston to Old Oak Common:

Heading along Hampstead Road, and this is the view along the street, back towards Mornington Crescent. The main entrance to the site to the west of Hampstead Road is here:

There was still work underway, however according to HS2 press releases, what is happening now around Euston is “enabling work” rather than construction works, and there were utility works on the street, so I assume this means minor, low cost works which may make the project easier to get underway if and when it restarts.

One of the entrances to the main Euston site:

Look back along the Hampstead Road:

This is the main entrance from Hampstead Road to the main site around Euston Station:

There appeared to be very little happening, and the only vehicle that was running through the site was a road sweeper.

There is no sign of any elements of a new station, and the appearance of the site was much the same as last year. Parts of the site which were open last year have now been fenced off, so the site appears more enclosed than a year ago, but again, not much happening within the site.

There are three places where there is a change to last year, the first is the National Temperance Garden, described as “a temporary green space for all to enjoy” . It has been built on the site of the old National Temperance Hospital, and this is the view of the garden from Hampstead Road:

The large structure behind the gardens are offices and have been there for the last few years. The fencing between the gardens and Hampstead Road are standard HS2 Euston green security fencing and surround places on the site where there are no large panels.

Inside the gardens, which apparently has been “specially designed to be moved and re-used in the local area when the site closes” :

These buildings were home to the Maria Fidelis School:

To free up the school site, HS2 have built a new school between Drummond Crescent and Phoenix Road, and the site in Starcross Street is now closed.

The school and a large new building behind the school are a new “Euston Skills Centre” , set-up to provide training to local people and thereby providing the number of trained workers that such a large project requires.

The Euston Skills Centre was handed over to Camden Council on the 20th of November, however given that work within Camden has now been paused it will be interesting to see what Camden Council does with the facility. Hopefully there are still plenty of training opportunities for Camden locals to work on the project from Old Oak Common northwards.

Between the skills centre and Starcross Street is the second of the places where there has been a tangible change, compared to last year.

This is another temporary open space, in the form of Starcross Yard:

The theme for Starcross Yard is “echoes of place” , and within the space there are physical reminders of places from a surprisingly wide area, not just the HS2 construction site, or Euston.

To highlight these, there are information panels along the railings which tell of the “uncommon histories of people and space” .

The first is the Temperance Hospital, which was demolished as part of the clearance of the HS2 construction site:

The second covers the St. James’s Burial Ground, which again was cleared as part of HS2 site clearances. The panel highlights the boxer Bill Richmond who was buried at St. James’s Burial Ground, and a number of others buried are also named, as well as many from the workhouse:

Railings from the old burial ground now form part of Starcross Yard.

The above two panels refer to places that have become part of the HS2 construction site. The rest of the panels cover people and places that are further away, and not part of HS2.

The first of these is the German Gymnasium which today can be found by the southern entrance to Pancras Square, between St. Pancras and King’s Cross Stations:

Poles from the German Gymnasium can now be found at Starcross Yard.

Next up is Cumberland Market:

Cumberland Market was a short distance to the west of Euston Station, at the southern end of the Regents Park Basin, a small dock area off the Regents Canal.

My father grew up next to the Regents Park Basin, and I wrote about the area in this post . Starcross Yard has cobbles from Cumberland Market.

Next is St. Aloysius, a Somers Town Catholic Church:

The church is still functioning, although a mid 1960s rebuild, rather than the buildings shown on the panel. The church can be found to the east of Euston station, in Eversholt Street.

And the final panel covers the local schools, including the Maria Fidelis school, which is the large brick building beside Starcross Yard:

I rather like what they have done with Starcross Yard. Too often when large areas of London are redeveloped, there is nothing left to indicate anything about the people and places that once had a connection to the place.

Starcross Yard is temporary, and I hope whatever comes next retains this approach to the areas history.

Meanwhile, at the end of Starcross Street, the Exmouth Arms are still open:

Next to the Exmouth Arms is another of the site entrances, guarded by a rather bored security person:

At the end of Starcross Street is Cobourg Street, although the road element of the street is now boarded off, with only the footpath remaining.

Cobourg Street crosses Drummond Street, and last year you could walk along this far stretch of Cobourg Street, but during my 2023 visit, the footpath was being fenced off:

It seems to be a result of the “pause” in work of HS2 into Euston, that the whole site seems to be getting more enclosed and secure. I assume if you have a large area of open land sitting idle, you do not want the risk of anyone getting in.

This is the view back along Cobourg Street from Drummond Street towards the Exmouth Arms:

Where Drummond Street once ran all the way to the edge of Euston Station, it now stops at the junction with Cobourg Street, and continues on as a walkway, with the HS2 construction site on either side.

This is the view along the walkway, looking up towards Drummond Street:

And from the same location, looking towards Euston Station:

And back towards Drummond Street:

At the corner of where Drummond Street once met Melton Street is the original Euston station of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (I wrote about a visit to the station and tunnels in this post) :

To the left of the underground station is another large area of cleared space, this was the area once bounded by Melton Street, Drummond Street, Euston Street and Cobourg Street, and was where the Bree Louise pub was to be found:

The following view is from the same position as the above photo, and is looking along where Melton Street ran into Cardington Street. It was a short distance along Cardington Street that St. James’s Gardens could be found. The tree is the only reminder of the trees that once lined part of the street and across the gardens.

The view along what was Melton Street, with a walkway into Euston Station up the ramp to the left:

The walkway along what was Melton Street:

There is a small stub of Melton Street left, where it meets Euston Road, and again has a very quiet entrance to the HS2 construction site:

I then walked along Euston Road to find the third place where there is any tangible sign of a change. At the eastern side of the station is Eversholt Street, and in front of the station, and the bus stops, between Eversholt Street and Euston Road, one of the open spaces alongside Euston Road has been redeveloped:

The area is still secured by standard HS2 Euston green mesh fencing, but through it there appears to be a new taxi drop of point. It all looks finished, but no indication of when it will be opening:

Then a walk to the open space in front of the station:

With a view in the opposite direction showing the office blocks between Euston Station and Euston Road:

Returning to Melton Street, where there is a ramp leading to a walkway into Euston Station, this is the view, with a large open construction site behind the panels on the right:

If you walk into Euston Station, up to the first floor area where there is a pub and food outlets, at the western end of this space there are stairs back down to ground level, and from here there is a view over the construction space in front of the station, with Melton Street to the right, and taxi ranks alongside Euston Road:

Not much happening in this large area:

The station concourse:

That was the HS2 Euston construction site in 2023. Very little change compared to a year ago, with only two small gardens and a taxi drop off point the only external signs of change.

There were not that many construction workers around, and the perimeter of the site seems to be getting more secure, as if it is closing up for a long period.

HS2 seems to be a love / hate project, and whatever your individual views on the project, it does not give a good impression of the country when we seem unable to build major infrastructure projects such as HS2.

There is an interesting article on the London reconnections website , comparing the costs of infrastructure projects in the UK and other, comparable countries, and it is remarkable just how much extra, projects in this country are to build compared to others.

There are many complex reasons for this. Planning processes, funding complexity, objections to projects, long decision making, changes to decisions etc. all add to cost.

Although the Old Oak Common to Euston section has been paused, there will still be cost, at the very minimum the construction sites will need security, and I suspect it will take very many years before sufficient private finance is found to complete the project.

London Mayors and Government Ministers of all parties seem to like the phrase that “London is open for business” , a phrase which I find rather meaningless, but seems to translate as the city is open for anyone to purchase London’s assets, and this will probably be the way for Euston with offshore investment building up a new Nine Elms above a very slimmed down station.

Apart from the Silvertown Tunnel, HS2 is the only other major public transport infrastructure project in London.

Crossrail 2 has been “paused” since October 2020, and I doubt there will be anything for some decades to come.

Sorry to be so depressing on your Sunday morning.

I stayed taking a few more photos as it got dark, and as I left the station, the new information board in the outside concourse mirrored my thoughts at the time about the future of Euston’s development, with almost every train being delayed:

My visits to the Euston HS2 construction site for the past six years are covered in the following posts:

My first post was back in 2017 and covered St James Gardens, just before they were closed for excavation.

My second post in 2018 walked around the streets to the west of the station, as buildings began to close, and the extent of the works could be seen.

I then went back in 2019 as demolition started.

In 2020, demolition was well underway and St James Gardens had disappeared, and the associated archaeological excavation had finished

And in June 2021 I went back for another walk around the edge of the construction site.

Last year’s 2022 walk around the site is here.

I suspect the site will be much the same when I visit again later in 2024.

alondoninheritance.com

Share this:

25 thoughts on “ euston station and hs2 – a 2023 update ”.

A thorough summary of the state of play – thank you. Here in the NW we always knew there would be no HS2, so disappointment but no real surprise at being dropped. The basic premiss does not work: public transport cannot be a successful business in terms of cash profit and balance books. Even the turnpike road trusts found that out. Like dignified housing for all, healthcare and good quality education, transport needs to be a state concern above all, for the good of the state. How sad to see all this wastage.

“Sorry to be so depressing on your Sunday morning“ – we won’t shoot the messenger! Thank you for chronicling this – I agree that we may not see the work completed in our lifetimes, and hope that future generations will learn from this how not to design, finance and build a major infrastructure development.

Thanks so much for this update Ian. It’s heartbreaking as a Londoner to see such a large area flattened and yet its future even now to be so uncertain. And if as you suggest its redevelopment ends up entirely with the private sector there will even fewer guarantees of preserving any buildings that remain standing.

On that point, I am with the Chair of the Infrastructure commission whose views are quoted here. https://inews.co.uk/news/business/rishi-sunak-funding-hs2-euston-fail-2777908

I love your research and informed insights. Your consistent observations provide a really interesting story. The approach to one of our biggest assets (London), all sounds quite depressing. Thank you for your valuable reports.

I cannot thank you emough for this extraordinarily. Comptehrnsive and moving report. I am hesrtbroken.over the way this ehole area has been desyroyed. One of my small heartbreaks is thenincomorehensible loss of thev4 stone benches in front if Euston station each of which had the age of the stone marked on it. So much hss been destroyed and i hold up.no.hope the result will.be improvemrnt! Thank youbagain

So there seems to have been no reason to demolish one of Londons iconic pubs, The Bree Louise?. What a huge waste of money this has been, another Tory vanity project.

https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/still-no-compensation-for-landlord-who-saw-his-pub-flattened-for-hs2-works-that-now-arent-even-in-needed

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/final-christmas-pub-demolished-hs2/

Thank you for thorough research and HS2 update. Hopefully it will prove beneficial and complete its objectives. There are a lot of complexities. If it significantly benefits freight (getting lorries off roads too) maybe the Old Oak station is better junction for shunting goods? I think given the pandemic and Ukraine war support and everything else that has hit, it is reasonable the HS2 project changed. Most of the London skyline is foreign owned and many projects are luxurious flagships so hopefully people insist the Euston redesign is quality. But my own puzzlement is the constant need to change and bigger and better. There was so much opposition to this project reflecting that question and appreciation of countryside. Britain so aspires to remain in top tier economies and it’s more than a numbers game but none of the global economies want to alter competitive paradigms. The work completed on HS2 looks professional and organised and with people involved pressing the issues it may turn out architecturally, economically, and socially beneficial. A large population is hard to cater for (keeping people employed, prices competitive, good housing etc) and people keep pushing out babies. It is all too high speed for me!

Despite passing through it every day and using it from time to time (pre-covid), and despite being into construction, architecture and infrastructure, I’ve never really got into HS2. I never understood the hatred of current Euston either (yes yes I’m aware of the ‘arch’) though Network Rail have not helped by first retruning the concourse to something like its former state (see my piece at https://www.chrismrogers.net/designwhiteheatlondon ) but then adding that hideous mezzanine. But yes, in a todssup on Britains worst recent scandal that includes various penedmic issues, the Horizon disaster and this…

Very interesting! Well done!

A great report; should be on the BBC. Down from Glasgow last weekend (18/11/23), I did the same barrier-bounded walk from Camden Market to Russell Square via Hampstead Road; we may have passed one another. I lived in Kings X from ’77-’86 and the place is unrecognisable, even as London; the main feeling is of dehumanisation. The race to sling up apartment blocks designed to last no longer than the average mortgage (not just in London) has made the previous race to sling up office blocks look like childs’ play. Here’s a bit of blurb from one of the HS2 signboards – in that good old tube typeface – which probably doesn’t come across as intended:

“Euston station was the first railway terminal in any capital in the world.

Euston was also the first station to connect London with another city.

Now, Euston has become the first station in the UK to provide passenger information in British Sign Language, via touch screens.”

Whelmed I was not. Another signboard near Berkeley Square, btw, trumps the construction of “1 bedroom shared ownership apartments”. O tempora, etc.

Excellent if sad observations, Justin. Those signboards say so much, as you say, about the tempora and the mores.

Another excellent article well done I remember my grandad taking me for walks around Euston and St Pancras the smell of steam trains and horses poo ! he loved the railways. And had the bookstall at Finsbury Park Station Most of our family worked on the railways Thanks again for another thought provoking article David ayres

What a mess and an indictment of all the authorities involved. If it was really necessary to decimate the area around Drummond and Euston Streets, with all the associated trauma for residents and businesses, at least have a coherent plan for what was going to be built in their place. Such an area provided the opportunity to create an impressive, integrated, transport interchange for rail, bus, taxi and tube services whilst also increasing affordable housing stock but inevitably it will become a mish mash of corporate blandness and a chance for foreign investors to make a killing. All involved should hang their heads in shame but they’re more likely to be promoted or ennobled. A perfect illustration of the ineptitude of those who govern this country.

Thanks for documenting the on-the-ground impact of the project. It would be interesting to treat the site like a post WWII bombsite – it does remind me of some of your Dad’s pictures. Creating a Euston to Old Oak Common rail link is an extremely unimaginative use of the site that has been cleared. Let’s just accept the Birmingham to Old Oak Common rail line as a monument to failure. I suggest an annual remembrance event when we can reflect on the consequences of incompetent project selection, planning and execution. And heaven help us when Nine Elms is held up as an example of what can be achieved.

Thanks for the thorough update, none of this gets any better. If you fancy a short trip out of London then come here to Harefield and see our HS2 horrors unfolding across our once sleepy fields. Many thanks for yet another great post.

HS2 is an analogy for everything that has gone wrong for over a decade in Britain: an eyewatering amount of our public money thrown at a project which collapses in chaos – meanwhile having somehow siphoned off fortunes for those people who happened to be in a position to personally benefit themselves. Wrecking nature, destroying homes and communities, laced with empty bragging & downright lying – and STILL the risk of yet more cash going into the hands of those who should never be allowed to have it. If only our public money, effort and expertise had gone into more research and improving employment in the NHS or making Britain competitive in the burgeoning international green tech field. Or anything that would honestly benefit the people instead of making us pay for it all with our taxes. I can only pray we’ll get competent and efficient grownups in charge soon. Britain needs that so much.

Thank you for this fascinating and thorough appraisal of the current situation at Euston. I know the area like the back of my hand but have not visited for a few years, as I no longer live in UK. Frankly, I am shocked at the extent of the destruction of one of my favourite parts of the city. As you say, the slogan, “London is open for business” is a meaningless joke. The truth is that the UK economy is so strangulated by welfare costs that it can’t even afford to upgrade its railways. Morocco, Indonesia, Poland and many other countries less wealthy than the supposedly wealthy UK, have hi-speed lines. Now, it seems, we have destroyed swathes of London and the countryside just to carve a few minutes off the journey time to Birmingham. You couldn’t make it up! The replacement for Euston, whenever it arrives, can hardly be much worse than what we have had to endure since the sixties. It is the only London terminus that I want to get out of as quickly as possible. For all the others I have a fascination that never wanes. As John Betjeman said after a visit to the recently opened Euston station, “Distance lends no enchantment to the view”.

As pointed out in the article and by numerous others over the years, the main purpose of HS2 is not to shave a few minutes off journey times but to create capacity on the WCML. Why do opponents of HS2 always ignore this?

In other words, HS2 is another abandoned environmental initiative.

At St James Gardens they found the long lost grave of the naval explorer Matthew Flinders well preserved.

Thank you for this update. It doesn’t get any better. What was needed was more capacity but they went for speed. The existing trains from Manchester take two hours which would not have meant a huge reduction in journey times anyway. In our European neighbours some journeys have been reduced by hours – a clear reason to go for speed.

Apart from the immense damage being done (RIP Drummond Street where my grandmother’s family lived), I can’t help thinking that Birmingham will suffer from the line that is built. No doubt there will be fast non-stop trains to London. With cheaper property prices Birmingham will attract thousands of commuters who will inflate the housing market of the West Midlands causing problems for those who already struggle to compete for housing in a lower income region.

What is often overlooked is that a mainline from London to Manchester was closed in the 1960s. That could have been resurrected at a fraction of the cost for freight traffic. Unfortunately ambition and hubris amongst our politicians meant that the most expensive option was adopted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Central_Main_Line

I know it’s a bit of a liberty to make an unrelated comment but I am tracing my family history and find I have a whole family if Whitening makers working from St Anne’s Place by the church in Limehouse. They are called Hales they operate from the 1830 s to 1870s. Is this associated with pottery do you think or whitening for building work? Their whitening yard was between 13 and 14 St Anne’s Place I can’t see it on a map though Any observations would be greatly appreciated as I know you are a Limehouse expert. Both John Hales and his wife Frances have wills on Ancestry which reference their Whitening Manufactory . Thank you

Thank you for this insight. Birmingham is the same, with hoarding around a huge area of demolished Digbeth, just on the edge of the Bullring shopping centre. There was a programme in the “Digging for Britain” series on BBC when they dug up the cemetery of the church next to the Bullring and analyzed the skeletons and artifacts found before clearing it for the HS2 terminal yet to be built !

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.