About HS2 Ltd

Since the Government’s decision to go ahead with HS2, HS2 Ltd is the organisation that is developing and promoting the project.  We will now start the engineering, design and environmental work in preparation for the hybrid Bill for the London to West Midlands route.  The Bill will authorise the Government to build and operate phase 1 of the project. We are also continuing our work on proposals for the line of route from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester. 

HS2 Ltd is a company wholly owned by the Department for Transport.

In January 2012 Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, decided to proceed with our recommended route for the London to West Midlands line and high level route recommendations for the wider “Y” network to Leeds and Manchester, with connections to points further north via the existing East and West Coast main lines.

This followed a public consultation on the proposals, between February and July 2011, to which we had around 55,000 responses.

Now we are starting to take forward the first phase of the project and to begin the next stage of engineering, design and environmental work. We aim to deposit a hybrid Bill in Parliament by the end of 2013, which will provide the powers to construct the London to West Midlands line. We also continue to work on proposals for the line of route to Leeds and Manchester, and will deliver our recommendations on the routes for phase two to the Government in 2012.

For the London to West Midlands line we will hold further consultations on property blight and in 2012, and consult on the Environmental Statement in 2013. We will also in future consult on the route to Leeds and Manchester.

More information

• Secretary of State HS2 announcement, 10 January 2012
• Britain’s Transport Infrastructure – High Speed Two