High-speed rail tunnels
We'll use ten giant tunnelling machines to create new high-speed rail tunnels.
Record-breaking bridges
We're building over 50 major viaducts, including the UK's longest railway bridge.
Uncovering Britain’s past
As part of HS2’s enabling works, archaeologists have uncovered more than 10,000 years of British history.
Building HS2
HS2 is the first new intercity railway to be built north of London in over a century. Construction of the line is at peak, with over 350 active sites between London and the West Midlands.
HS2’s construction will continue to support thousands of jobs, benefit UK businesses of all sizes, and lay the foundations for the arrival of more new rail services into the next decade and beyond.
We have awarded our railway systems contracts, that will deliver the high-speed rail project’s state-of-the-art track, signalling, communications, and other systems. It will mark the beginning of a new stage for the project, that will see almost 140 miles of tunnels, bridges and earthworks between London and the West Midlands transformed into an operational railway.
Over the coming years, the successful companies will first design and then install around 280 miles of track capable of speeds of up to 225mph (360km/h) as well as power supplies and signalling equipment required for the safe operation of the railway.
Once operational, HS2’s British-built bullet trains will provide zero-carbon journeys between the UK’s two largest cities, Birmingham and London, with services continuing on to Manchester, the North West and Scotland using the conventional railway network, cutting journey times.
Britain's new high-speed railway – key facts and figures
Trains
HS2 will consist of a fleet of high-speed, British built, bullet-style trains – to be designed, built and maintained in the UK.
- Speeds reaching up to 225mph (360km/h)
- Fully electric and highly energy efficient.
- Eight carriage trains measuring 200 metres in length.
- Two major depots where HS2 trains will be maintained, and from which maintenance teams and equipment can reach the entire railway line.
Stations
HS2 will build four new stations as part of construction of the route between London and the West Midlands.
- Euston Station in central London
- Old Oak Common Station in west London
- Interchange Station in Solihull
- Curzon Street Station in Birmingham
Tunnels
HS2 will consist of 65 miles (105km) of dedicated high-speed rail tunnel, constructed in five separate twin-tunnel drives along the London to West Midlands route, in a number of different locations.
- Euston Tunnel: 4.5 miles (7.3km)
- Northolt Tunnel: 8.4 miles (13.6km)
- Chiltern Tunnel: 10 miles (16km)
- Long Itchington Wood Tunnel: 1 mile (1.6km)
- Bromford Tunnel: 3.5 miles (5.8 km)
Viaducts and bridges
HS2 will build over 11 miles of viaducts and bridges, which will include hundreds of bridging structures and over 50 major viaducts which will stretch across valleys, rivers, roads and flood plains.
- Over 50 major viaducts measuring about 9 miles (15km) in length will be built.
- The UK’s longest railway bridge, the Colne Valley Viaduct, spans lakes, waterways and roads on the outskirts of London. It is over 2 miles (3.4km) long, which is just over half a mile longer than the Forth Rail Bridge.
- Delta Junction outside Birmingham is a distinctive triangular section of the HS2 line that consists of embankments, cuttings, and 13 viaducts carrying high-speed tracks over motorways, roads, rail lines, rivers, and floodplains.
Cuttings and embankments
HS2 trains need gentle gradients to maintain their high speeds by running above ground on embankments and below in cuttings.
- Over 70 cuttings will be excavated, measuring over 44 miles (72km) in total.
- The longest is the Calvert Cutting at 2.5 miles (4.1km) with a maximum depth of 9.7m.
- The deepest is Lower Thorpe Cutting at 30.5m deep.
- Over 110 embankments, measuring about 38 miles (61km) long , will be constructed.
- The longest embankment will be Grendon Underwood at 1.8 miles (3km) long.
Archaeology
The largest archaeological programme ever undertaken in the UK – more than 1,000 archaeologists, specialists, scientists and conservators are revealing over 10,000 years of British history.