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What is HS2

Better journeys

HS2 will ensure better journeys for rail users in the West Midlands, London and the Southeast, with more services, faster journeys and fewer delays. It will provide more track, more trains, more seats and faster journeys to improve performance and reliability across the wider rail network, adding 250,000 extra seats a day to the West Coast Main Line.

Modern, eco-friendly flagship stations at Curzon Street, Interchange, Old Oak Common and Euston will act as transport hubs, putting hundreds of destinations in easy reach for travellers – and nearly halve the journey times between Birmingham and London.

Boosting the economy

By better connecting Britain’s biggest economic centres and catalysing plans for inner-city regeneration, HS2 will open up opportunities for the creation of thousands of new jobs and homes as well as driving transformative economic growth.

By turbo-charging connections between Britain’s two biggest cities, HS2 creates a corridor of economic and social opportunity for the regions to trade, grow and thrive.

Building Britain’s future

HS2 is the first new intercity railway to be built north of London in over a century.  Construction is well underway, employing over 28,000, including over 1500 apprentices and 4,000 previously unemployed, and bringing together the best of British design and engineering.  Over 95% of the companies building the railway are British based and from every region of the UK. £11billion of contracts have been let.

Comprising 140-miles of track, four new state-of-the art stations, two depots, 32 miles of tunnel, and 130 bridges, HS2 will leave a legacy of environmentally responsible travel, economic regeneration and technological innovation for generations to come.

We’re at peak construction on HS2, with the completion of the route’s longest tunnels, stations coming out the ground and hundreds of bridges and viaducts taking shape.

We will soon be awarding our railway and track contracts as we enter the next phase of delivery and step closer to opening in the early 2030s.

HS2 Project Update

Watch our latest quarterly project update on the delivery Britain's new railway.

Watch the latest update

HS2 in the West Midlands

From trains to cranes - HS2 and the West Midlands development boom.

Find out more

HS2 in Parliament

Learn about the progress of the Hybrid Bills through Parliament and associated matters.

Find out more

HS2 funding

The Department for Transport’s 6-monthly report to Parliament provides an overview of the funding and schedule for the HS2 project.

Read the latest Department for Transport 6-monthly report to Parliament.

Further information

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