HS2 pauses key sections for ‘overriding priority’ test track

Work on part of the HS2 high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham will be suspended in a bid to get the project back on track, HS2 bosses say.

Instead, construction on a proposed test-bed near Birmingham will be moved up the schedule, so early trials can begin on power, signalling and communications systems – as well as the new rolling stock  – while the rest of the line is built.

In an update released this month, HS2 says engineering work will be suspended at Handsacre in Staffordshire, where HS2 trains will join the West Coast Main Line, with completion of a 50-mile section of track between the main HS2 depot at Washwood Heath and Wendover Green Tunnel now the “overriding priority” for the project.

The move is part of a planned reboot launched in the summer, intended to get key elements of the HS2 programme back into order, with new project timescales and costings expected to be released in 2026.

• READ MORE: Mark Wild says HS2 reset is ‘well advanced’

Earlier this year, the government launched a review of operations on the flagship high speed rail programme connecting Birmingham and London, saying there had been “too many dark corners for failure to hide in” – after a report released in July confirmed that there was no way of meeting the line’s original opening deadline of 2033.

A proposed test area for the HS2 high-speed link is now the project’s overriding priority. Credit: HS2

“Prioritising and protecting the test area is key to getting back on track – and staying on track,” said a spokesperson.

“It is quite rare for a new railway and its new trains to be brought into service at the same time, as is happening with HS2. Therefore, the driving force behind HS2’s revised scheduling plan is the completion of an initial section of the HS2 route where high-speed trains will be tested.

“A phased approach to testing will enable the programme to remain on schedule. Waiting for civils completion on the full Curzon Street to Old Oak Common route, before starting dynamic testing, would unnecessarily delay the opening of the railway.  This approach means that testing can begin, while the remaining sections of the railway are fitted out with track, power signalling and systems.”

HS2 says its testing programme is the first “key step” towards turning HS2 into an operational railway, with the section of line between Birmingham and Wendover Green specifically chosen to allow test trains to reach the required acceleration level, with sufficient distance to test and calibrate the braking systems.

Testing on the two remaining sections of track – from Washwood Heath to Curzon Street Station, and from Wendover Green Tunnel to Old Oak Common Station – will begin at a later stage.