News

The final two major structures being built to bring HS2 into Birmingham have been approved by local councils - marking another significant milestone for the project.

New photographs and video published by HS2 show the meeting of two engineering landmarks – as the UK’s longest railway bridge crosses the country’s longest canal.

646 freight trains deliver a million tonnes of construction materials to HS2’s Quainton railhead, near Aylesbury, over 16 months.

7 March 2024: HS2 welcomes Schedule 17 planning permission from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council for the design of the green tunnel at Burton Green.

HS2’s London tunnels programme passed a major milestone as the third tunnel boring machine (TBM) being used as part of the project was launched on 25 February 2024.

In mid-February Buckinghamshire Council gave the green light for HS2’s maintenance hub, which will bring around 300 jobs to Calvert in Buckinghamshire.

HS2 has moved the first huge viaduct section into place over the motorway network in North Warwickshire, marking a milestone for the project’s Delta Junction as HS2 reaches peak construction in the region.

In the second January week, engineers began a delicate job that will see almost half a kilometre of bridge deck slid into position over the next year, high above the Misbourne Valley in Buckinghamshire, as HS2’s Wendover Dean Viaduct enters a critical new stage of construction.

Building work continues after Colne Valley viaduct passes halfway point in Autumn 2023.

Deliveries of HS2’s tunnel segments have begun from Hartlepool, using the UK’s rail network to minimise road traffic and drastically reduce carbon emissions.

Work to prepare the ground for HS2’s new Network Integrated Control Centre (NICC) and train maintenance depot in Washwood Heath, North Birmingham, took a giant leap forward in mid-December, as the team passed a huge earthworks milestone.

A team of 90 specialist engineers have completed the assembly of HS2’s giant tunnel boring machine (TBM) which will start digging the second bore of the 5.6 km Bromford Tunnel into Birmingham next year.

In early December 2023, a viaduct in Northamptonshire has become the first on the HS2 project to have all its deck beams installed as work on the project continues to ramp up between London and the West Midlands.

On 4 October 2023 Rishi Sunak has revealed that HS2 from the West Midlands to Manchester is being scrapped.

The high speed trains due to start running on the HS2 rail network within 10 years have been marked out as the most environmentally-friendly in the world.