HS2 in Staffordshire

The new high-speed rail network within Staffordshire includes two phases HS2, and a number of structures, such as tunnels and viaducts will be built, designed to minimise our impact on the area.

Phase One of HS2, between London and the West Midlands, was approved by Parliament in 2017 and is under construction, while plans for Phase 2a, from the West Midlands to Crewe were approved by Parliament in 2021 and initial preparatory works will gather pace over coming months.

The Phase One route enters Staffordshire in the Drayton Bassett area, before passing through a number of rural parishes including Hints, Weeford, Swinfen and Packington, and Whittington. It continues north, to the east of Lichfield, after which the main line of Phase One merges into Phase 2a in the Fradley area. A spur of the route continues north west to a junction at Handsacre, that will eventually connect the route to the existing west coast main line – enabling HS2 trains to stop at existing stations, including Stafford in future.

The Phase 2a route through Staffordshire covers a distance of 51.3km, running North from Fradley to Madeley.

Find out more about our works in the area

Ground Investigations

To help us design and build HS2 in the safest and most efficient way, we needed to increase our understanding of ground conditions along the route.

The latest Ground Investigation (GI) programme along the Phase 2a route began in November 2020 and finished in March 2022. Methods used included boreholes, trial pits and cone penetration testing at over 1,000 investigation sites.

This work has provided us with further detailed geotechnical information to inform the ongoing design development of Phase

Utility Diversions

Before any major construction begins, we will need to strengthen and divert existing utilities infrastructure. This includes water and gas mains, as well a number of electricity supplies that are in the path of the new railway.

Across Phase 2a there are around 300 utility diversions that will be undertaken. Before the diversion takes place ecological and ground investigation surveys are undertaken alongside archaeological investigation.

The completion of all the needed diversions across Phase 2a started in 2021 and are expected to take around five years to complete.

Early Environmental Works

The Early Environmental Works are to establish critical environmental mitigation sites. Alongside ecological professionals we will be creating 81 new habitats for wildlife to translocate to before we start building the new railway. This will include creating ecological ponds and planting new native grasslands, hedgerows and woodlands.

Activity across these sites started in early 2022 and will be ongoing until 2023, with all expecting to be established in 2024 ahead of main construction activity. The new habitats will be maintained and monitored following their completion.

Early Civils Works

The Early Civils Works will modify key junctions and local roads to improve traffic flows ahead of HS2 main construction traffic.

The work includes:

Junction improvements at M6 J15/A500 (Hanchurch Interchange).
Junction improvements at Wood End Lane/A515 road modifications and carriageway widening
Construction of a bridge and associated slip roads across the M6 at Yarnfield Lane, Stone
A Phase 2a route wide road improvement scheme across 20 locations with work including temporary road widening, junction improvements, additional lanes at roundabouts and passing bays.

Surveys to inform this work started in the summer of 2021 and will be completed in early 2023. These will inform the final designs which will be shared with communities before construction work starts from mid-2023 onwards.

Advanced Civils Works

Advanced Civils Works will be focused on possessing all the land required that has yet to be acquired and securing and preparing these sites for construction. This will include putting up fencing, setting up compounds, clearing landscape, completing any required archaeology works and final environmental works, building any haul roads and any needed highway access to sites.

The contractor for this work is expected to come onboard by the end of 2022.

Main Civils Works

The Main Civils Works is expected to take over from the Advanced Civils Works in mid-2024 onwards. They will be responsible for finalising the details of the designs. Once this is completed the final designs will be shared with communities and construction will start. This will include excavating cuttings, building embankments and the start of tunnelling construction.

Once we complete the major civils work our focus will then shift to installing the railway systems including ballast, slab tracks, signalling and power supply.

There will then be a period of testing and commissioning of each phase of the railway before any services can start to run in 2030-34.