Hi, everybody. I'm Emma Head,
Chief Railway Officer at HS2, bringing you our latest update on the work we've
been doing to build HS2. I'm delighted to be your guide on this 140-mile whistle stop tour of the
construction progress we've made during 2023. HS2 is Britain's biggest build
and unprecedented in scale. We're building more than 500 bridging
structures over and under the route, more than 100 embankments and about 70
cuttings, the longest stretching 2.5 miles. As we start 2024, work is underway on over two
thirds of HS2’s viaducts and over half of our bridges. Over 25 miles of tunnels have been
created by our giant tunnel boring machines. When the first HS2 services launch,
passengers will start their journey at Old Oak Common Station in West
London, which will be the UK’s largest new-build station and will be the line’s
temporary southern terminus. We’re into the third year of permanent construction of this vast
station, and already we can see it taking shape. Over half a million cubic metres of London clay
has been excavated to create the underground station box, and construction of the
first of 14 new platforms is underway. Once complete, Old Oak Common will integrate
into the existing network connecting HS2 with the Elizabeth line, the Heathrow
Express and the Great Western Main Line. To ensure trains can flow freely and on
time, as they leave Old Oak Common station, they will pass through Victoria Road
Crossover Box. Over 130,000 tonnes of soil has been removed to create the structure
– the same as 55 Olympic Swimming pools. The huge, caterpillar shaped structure – 128m
in length and 25m deep – is approaching its final stages of construction, and the western
section of the box has been handed over to our tunnelling teams to become the launch chamber for
two huge tunnel boring machines, Emily and Anne. The two machines will start their
3.4-mile journeys in early 2024, to dig the eastern section of Northolt Tunnel.
They will join our first two London TBMs, Sushila and Caroline, who are already over one
year into constructing the western section of the tunnel, with each machine having completed
over 2 miles of their 5-mile journeys so far. On the outskirts of West London,
construction of the Valley Viaduct has passed its halfway mark on its journey
to become Britain's longest railway bridge. Over 500 deck segments have been
manufactured and installed already. All of the iconic V-shaped piers are complete
and our construction team is moving forwards, assembling the 80 metre long spans that will
carry the railway across the lakes at 2.1 miles. When complete, the Colne Valley Viaduct will set
a record as the longest rail bridge in the UK, yet it will take just 40 seconds for passengers to
go across it in one of HS2’s bullet-style trains. Once across the viaduct, they will pass through
what will be the largest single project in our Green Corridor programme – where our
teams have begun creating the first of some 90 hectares of new chalk grassland using
chalk from our tunnelling activities. And then head almost immediately into the 10-mile-long
Chiltern Tunnel, the longest tunnel on HS2. Florence and Cecilia, our first pair
of HS2 tunnelling machines to launch, are now over 90% of the way through
their journeys under the Chiltern hills, and on track to complete their drives
and breakthrough at the north portal of the Chiltern Tunnel in early 2024.
And as the machines edge closer to that finishing line, the expert team behind them
are installing the tunnel invert – which will house the HS2 track – and constructing the
38 cross-passages that link the twin tunnels. As passengers exit the Chiltern tunnel heading
north, they will enter a network of cuttings, embankments, viaducts and green tunnels, which
will support high-speed trains travelling up to 225mph across a broad range of landscapes,
to deliver a smooth, reliable journey. Across 2023, we made huge progress on many of the
major structures that will carry HS2 trains into the heart of the West Midlands and further north.
The piers for Wendover Dean Viaduct are coming out of the ground, as the team prepare to launch the
first sections of the low-carbon deck in 2024. The first of 72 massive “Lego block”
beams have been lifted into place for our pioneering Thame Valley Viaduct – the
first of its kind in the UK to have all major elements manufactured off site.
And the designs for Small Dean Viaduct in Buckinghamshire, and Edgcote Viaduct
in Northamptonshire have been unveiled. As HS2 trains enter in Northamptonshire, they
will travel underground in two ‘green tunnels’. Work on the 1.7 mile Greatworth Green Tunnel –
the longest cut-and-cover, or ‘green’, tunnel on the HS2 route – started this year, with the
first of 5,410 segments being lifted into place. Along with her sister tunnel – the 1.5 mile
Chipping Warden green tunnel – these tunnels are built using an ‘M-shaped’ double arch design,
and, much like many of the viaducts on the route, all major components are precast in a factory
offsite, before being assembled onsite. Once complete, the tunnels will be covered
with earth and landscaped to a tailored design, featuring thousands of native trees and shrubs.
Over 35 million cubic metres of material has been excavated across the route to create below-ground
cuttings to date, using a fleet of machines, which are carefully tracked and monitored using
an innovative, real-time reporting system. Around 95% of material excavated is reused on
site to create our embankments, noise barriers and landscaping. We are moving about 99% of
the material on HS2 land using a network of temporary haul roads, to reduce traffic on public
roads and minimise impacts of local communities. As the route enters south Warwickshire, we dip below ground again into
the Long Itchington Wood Tunnel. The second drive of the twin-bore tunnel,
which takes HS2 under an ancient woodland, was completed in March 2023 when TBM
Dorothy broke through at the south portal. After that breakthrough, TBM Dorothy was
dismantled and transported to our Bromford tunnelling site to be re-used to dig the tunnel
next door to the one we’re standing in right now. As we head north out of the tunnel, our trains
will travel along cuttings and embankments, through a green tunnel at Burton Green
and under bridges – including the huge 5,600 tonne Kenilworth overbridge, which
was moved into place under the existing Coventry to Leamington Line in July 2023.
This was the third major bridge move delivered over a two-week period, with structures
installed at Fulfen Wood near Lichfield and at nearby Streethay, that will allow
HS2 to pass beneath existing railway lines, on its route going north where it will
connect to the existing railway network. In Solihull, a huge amount of work has
been delivered over the past year to prepare the area for construction
of the new HS2 Interchange Station, including the removal of an existing bridge over
the M42 motorway, and work to improve and remodel the local road and utility networks.
This will create the space to build the new eco-friendly HS2 station in the
heart of Solihull, which will be part of a new public transport interchange
serving Solihull and the West Midlands. Heading north out of the station, our trains will
enter the Delta Junction – a triangular section of the high-speed railway made up of nine viaducts,
embankments, and other bridging structures, with around 10km of track crossing a
network of motorways, roads and rivers. Across 2023 we saw the first piers for the
Water Orton and River Tame Viaducts completed, and the first of over 2,700 individually cast deck sections from our precast factory in
Kingsbury, have started to be installed. And as the railway sweeps west towards Birmingham, we enter the Bromford Tunnel
where we’re standing today. Over 1 kilometre of this tunnel has been completed
so far, and work is underway next door to prepare a second tunnelling machine for launch in 2024.
These machines will each dig around 3.5 miles of tunnel, towards the western
portal at Washwood Heath. From Washwood Heath, where our depot and control
centre will be located, trains will head onto a series of five connected viaducts that will
carry passengers right into central Birmingham. We’ve made huge progress on those viaducts too,
with the first sections of the 300-metre-long Curzon Viaduct deck poured, that will bring
high-speed trains into Birmingham's Curzon Street Station. Foundation works will
begin at the 25-acre site in early 2024. I hope you’ve enjoyed this update
and seeing the scale of the works that we’re delivering across over 350 active
sites between London and the West Midlands. HS2 is the biggest and most ambitious
infrastructure project in the UK, and we look forward to bringing
you more updates as we continue to deliver Britain’s new high-speed railway. Thank you.
