HS2 Construction Updates - Birmingham Area

[hwl]

Interesting also to see the observation about the 2nd TBM having already launched despite no official announcement. Are there just so many now they don’t consider it news?

That TBM is now on it 3rd launch having done both Long Itchington tunnels already

 

[Fazaar1889]

Does anyone have a bird's eye view of what extremities of curzon street will be? Like where will the station building end exactly etc...

 

[kevin_roche]

Does anyone have a bird's eye view of what extremities of curzon street will be? Like where will the station building end exactly etc...

This may help. http://www.thehs2.com/phase1/locations/bcs/bcs.jpg

 

[swt_passenger]

Does anyone have a bird's eye view of what extremities of curzon street will be? Like where will the station building end exactly etc...

Main entrance is a few yards from the existing Moor St station entrance. Not really near Curzon St, which has always been a stupid name for it that does nothing (for me) except to suggest it’s further away from New St than it really is.

 

[Fazaar1889]

This may help. http://www.thehs2.com/phase1/locations/bcs/bcs.jpg

Thanks, does that image therefore claim there will be a footbridge or something extending from the front of the station? I'm an idiot

 

[The Planner]

Thanks, does that image therefore claim there will be a footbridge or something extending from the front of the station?

https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/stations/curzon-street/

A quick Google gives loads of results.

 

[Wyrleybart]

This may help. http://www.thehs2.com/phase1/locations/bcs/bcs.jpg

Thanks for this link
The station throat seems a little odd from what I can see from the drawing. It looks as through three platforms are served from one track, with one from the other. Is that planned ?

 

[kevin_roche]

Thanks for this link
The station throat seems a little odd from what I can see from the drawing. It looks as through three platforms are served from one track, with one from the other. Is that planned ?

On that picture, the complexity of the switches is hidden by the green lines. The original is better https://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/hs2-maps-20120110/hs2arp00drrw05305issue2.pdf

 

[Meerkat]

Are there going to be travelators? The London end of the train is a long way from the New Street end of the station!

 

[Fazaar1889]

Are there going to be travelators? The London end of the train is a long way from the New Street end of the station!

No I don't think so. These images are taken from the HS2 website and they don't have any present.

 

[The Planner]

Are there going to be travelators? The London end of the train is a long way from the New Street end of the station!

Depends how much further it is, the front door of Euston to the first coach of an 11 car Pendo is a good 400m. It might be an extra 100-150m at Curzon St to walk to the front of a 400m HS2 set.

 

[fishwomp]

Are there going to be travelators? The London end of the train is a long way from the New Street end of the station!

That reminds me of the apocryphal letter to the Times about trains to a London terminus being very overcrowded at the front but far emptier at the back. The suggested solution was the railway should put more carriages on the front.

 

[Bald Rick]

That reminds me of the apocryphal letter to the Times about trains to a London terminus being very overcrowded at the front but far emptier at the back. The suggested solution was the railway should put more carriages on the front.

That very question was asked at a meet the manager at Waterloo, just after the suburban 10 car train lengthening was done. “Why have you put the extra two coaches at the back?”

 

[34006]

Does anybody know if all three sides of the delta junction are under construction or are two sides paused / cancelled ?.

Is any construction work underway north of delta junction ?

 

[The Planner]

Does anybody know if all three sides of the delta junction are under construction or are two sides paused / cancelled ?.

Is any construction work underway north of delta junction ?

All three sides.

 

[Bald Rick]

Is any construction work underway north of delta junction ?

Yes, because the line is going to Handsacre.

 

[Benjwri]

Are there going to be travelators? The London end of the train is a long way from the New Street end of the station!

Travelators are not possible in the current designs as the available space, both at platform level and above, would not meet the minimum standards if travelators were installed. The station building would have to be far wider.

 

[snowball]

Yes, because the line is going to Handsacre.

In principle the government could still have dropped the Curzon Street - North side of the triangle. It still seems uncertain what if anything will use it.

Unless somebody revives the E Midlands arm, there could be a few unused viaducts in the Water Orton/ Curdworh/ Coleshill area, immediately north of the delta junction, where I suspect capacity is being built for a six-track wide grade separated junction as previously planned.

 

[bib]

Travelators are not possible in the current designs as the available space

That's a pity, I'd have thought they could fit at least one of the airport style ones down the centre of the station, so if you were in the farthest half of the train it could save you 200m or so. Its about 500m from New St, so if you ended up in the wrong end of the train and had another 500m to walk through the station that's not insignificant. At least the St Pancras the departure ramps come up partway down the train.

 

[Meerkat]

Depends how much further it is, the front door of Euston to the first coach of an 11 car Pendo is a good 400m. It might be an extra 100-150m at Curzon St to walk to the front of a 400m HS2 set.

And having done that I know it’s a blooming long way!
Is there a detailed plan for the station available - ie where waiting rooms are?
Because if they aren’t spread out and zoned then there are going to be issues with people turning up ‘on time’ only to find they have another 5 mins walk…..(bit like the airports where you pop through a door to get to the gate then find a corridor stretching off into eternity…)

 

[Benjwri]

And having done that I know it’s a blooming long way!
Is there a detailed plan for the station available - ie where waiting rooms are?
Because if they aren’t spread out and zoned then there are going to be issues with people turning up ‘on time’ only to find they have another 5 mins walk…..(bit like the airports where you pop through a door to get to the gate then find a corridor stretching off into eternity…)

There is, I’ll see if I can find it when I get home, but I think this is more a public perception issue, and also something that is an issue at every terminal. The upper concourse is above the trains in this case though, so that will help improve the situation as people aren’t going the whole length of the platform from the main waiting area

 

[The Planner]

In principle the government could still have dropped the Curzon Street - North side of the triangle. It still seems uncertain what if anything will use it.

Unless somebody revives the E Midlands arm, there could be a few unused viaducts in the Water Orton/ Curdworh/ Coleshill area, immediately north of the delta junction, where I suspect capacity is being built for a six-track wide grade separated junction as previously planned.

ECS will use it to/from Washwood Heath and I won't be surprised if a Curzon St to Picc is attempted to be shoehorned in.

 

[Benjwri]

And having done that I know it’s a blooming long way!
Is there a detailed plan for the station available - ie where waiting rooms are?
Because if they aren’t spread out and zoned then there are going to be issues with people turning up ‘on time’ only to find they have another 5 mins walk…..(bit like the airports where you pop through a door to get to the gate then find a corridor stretching off into eternity…)

There are very few waiting rooms specified in the plans, at platform level and they are very small. The majority of waiting space is in the western concourse, situated above the platforms up to about half way along. The majority of the seating is towards the east of this area, and therfore the middle. These is obviously also the eastern entrance, which contains seating as well, and seating on the various platforms.

 

[Class172]

If I recall correctly won’t the tram stop be underneath the station towards the middle of the platforms? I don’t know how passengers will enter the station from there but that could offer a different option to walking the full length to the western concourse.

 

[Benjwri]

If I recall correctly won’t the tram stop be underneath the station towards the middle of the platforms? I don’t know how passengers will enter the station from there but that could offer a different option to walking the full length to the western concourse.

Taxi ranks etc are under the platforms at the east end, entering into the Eastern Concourse I mentioned above.

 

[chris2]

If I recall correctly won’t the tram stop be underneath the station towards the middle of the platforms? I don’t know how passengers will enter the station from there but that could offer a different option to walking the full length to the western concourse.

Yes that’s right. From the renders on the hs2 website it looks like the tram runs alongside the station then dives under the end of the platforms where there’s an entrance to the station.

 

[Snow1964]

1m cubic metres of earth have been moved at Washwood Heath

Link also includes a video, and further info

Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), HS2’s construction partner for the region, led the operation to excavate over one million cubic metres of earth at the Washwood Heath site. As part of a cut and fill exercise, the recycled material has been cleaned and reused to level the ground, paving the way for detailed design and construction of the new maintenance depot and control centre to start next year.

The NICC, effectively the ‘nerve centre’ for the HS2 network, will accommodate around one hundred staff that will control the real time operation of the railway. The site also includes a stabling yard, with 14 tracks, a maintenance building for the preparation of HS2’s fleet of trains, and facilities for staff who will drive and service the trains. Once operational, the site is expected to support around 550 jobs.

In preparation for the works, BBV also diverted Wash Brook, which ran north – south through the site. The brook, which connects to the River Tame, is just one of the environmental design features planned for the site to provide local wildlife habitats and enhance its aesthetic appeal.

The Washwood Heath site has a long-standing rail history, dating back to the early 1900s, when it was first used as a railway sidings and marshalling yard. Its heavy industrial use over the last century meant the ground was highly contaminated, and specialist contractors, including Coventry-based Duo Group, have led the intense programme of work to clean up the site ready for its new beginnings at the heart of the new high-speed network.

BBV’s recycle and reuse approach to the ground remediation and earthworks programme eliminated the need to import and export aggregate materials. Approximately 27,200 road wagons or 54,400 vehicle movements are estimated to have been avoided to date, minimising the impact of HS2’s work on local communities.

HS2 marks major earthworks milestone as plans for new railway 'nerve centre' take shape

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 this week, as the team passed a huge earthworks milestone. WATCH: Washwood Heath Site progress - https://youtu.be/6zqMU7iRnVg

mediacentre.hs2.org.uk

 

[Fazaar1889]

The train maintenance depot is taking shape. I'm actually curious though that now the northern legs are cancelled, will the spare trains be stored here for a while or is the order gonna be shortened?

Washwood Heath HS2 control centre begins to take shape​

Work to prepare the ground for HS2’s new Network Integrated Control Centre (NICC) and train maintenance depot in Washwood Heath, North Birmingham, is beginning to take shape as the team have excavated over one million cubic metres of earth at the Washwood Heath site. As part of a cut and fill exercise, the recycled material has been cleaned and reused to level the ground, paving the way for detailed design and construction of the new maintenance depot and control centre to start next year. The NICC, effectively the ‘nerve centre’ for the HS2 network, will accommodate around one hundred staff that will control the real time operation of the railway. The site also includes a stabling yard, with 14 tracks, a maintenance building for the preparation of HS2’s fleet of trains, and facilities for staff who will drive and service the trains. Once operational, the site is expected to support around 550 jobs.

 

[Yindee8191]

The train maintenance depot is taking shape. I'm actually curious though that now the northern legs are cancelled, will the spare trains be stored here for a while or is the order gonna be shortened?

I don’t think literally anyone in the country, from the Prime Minister down, knows the answer to that question right now. Probably depends on whether they can mess with the order much before the next election.

 

[Fazaar1889]

I don’t think literally anyone in the country, from the Prime Minister down, knows the answer to that question right now. Probably depends on whether they can mess with the order much before the next election.

I really damn hope that the legs are reinstated in at least the next 5 years, 10 if we're optimistic