Building HS2 - Curzon Street and Interchange progress.

Update 15/11/21

It would seem that the title of the blog should have been "the time for discussion should be over" as it appears the leg from Birmingham to Leeds is going to be heavily curtailed. I'll wait and see what detail emerge this week, but it seems almost certain that the government is going to be making a huge mistake. Not only will de-scoping HS2 East reduce the journey time benefits from Leeds to London and Birmingham, and mean there will be little to no increase in capacity,  but it will also mean that there will be no hope of improved regional journeys that would have been made possible by the construction of the eastern leg of HS2.

In 2009 when I first began actively campaigning in support of HS2 I never imagined I'd one day be photographing and writing about the construction of the project. At the time I was in my mid-20s and full of youthful optimism and felt that someone ought to be challenging the many myths about the project which were being disseminated by opponents of the project. At the time HS2 Ltd had no social media presence and no one working for the DfT felt it was the job of HS2 Ltd or indeed Government to promote the project. HS2 Ltd's job was solely seen as designing the line and ensuring the required bills made their way through parliament. 

In the end HS2 took 10 years to get from the initial planning phase to construction, but finally in June this year (2021) I captured my first images of the progress so far. Admittedly I'm a little late to the party, as construction has been underway for quite some time, in fact, the first TBMs christened Florence and Cecilia launched to dig the two 10 mile long tunnels underneath the Chiltern hills have already excavated 2 miles of tunnels between them. However the pandemic and living up North made it difficult to justify a trip south just to see what's been going on. So, during my visit to the Midlands for Rail Live 2021 I thought I'd have an extended stay so I could see for myself some of the progress that has been made so far on the construction of HS2. 

The first stop was the site of what will eventually be the HS2 Interchange station located close to Birmingham Airport. This station will be connected to Birmingham International railway station and Birmingham Airport using an automated people mover, which will be able to transport people from the station to the airport in just 6 minutes. Birmingham Interchange will also allow people from Solihull and the surrounding area to access HS2 services to London, Birmingham city centre and the North. The station itself will be comprised of 2 platforms, with 4 platform faces and a pair of through tracks for non-stopping services from the North to London. 

A significant amount of work has already taken place around what will be the new station, with a key road bridge over the M42 having already been constructed. The 65-metre bridge which now spans the M42 was moved into place by SPMTs (Self-Propelled Modular Transporters) over the space of just 2 days. A new road bridge has also been installed over A446/A452 which will link the A452 to a new link road and roundabout to Birmingham Interchange and NEC, a video of which can be seen here

 

Preparatory works taking place on the site of new link roads and roundabout connecting the A452 and A446 to the new station and the NEC

The new link road bridge over M42. 

 

New roundabout layout, which will connect the A452 to the B4438 and NEC

 

Groundworks appeared to have started on the site of the new 400m long station, however, the tender to build the station itself isn't due to be awarded until next year, so it's unlikely that any significant progress towards construction will begin before the end of 2022.

First signs of groundworks taking place for Birmingham Interchange

The next day I took a trip into Birmingham to check out the site of another new station, this time located in the heart of the city. Curzon Street station is being constructed alongside the WCML and will have an entrance next to Moor Street station, and despite claims to the contrary made by opponents of HS2 will be only a few minutes by foot from Birmingham New Street station.

A video taken onboard a WMR service into Birmingham New Street station showing progress as of June 2021 can be found here. 

Curzon Street station will be a 400m long station with 7 platforms, the main entrance of which will open out onto Moor Street Queensway providing access to Birmingham Moor St station, with a short walk through St Martin's Queensway to New Street station. There will also be a second entrance roughly in the middle of the station which will utilise the original building which formed the entrance to the former station which was the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway. The original station opened in 1838, but was closed to passengers in 1893, the station itself was later demolished but the Roman-inspired Grade I listed building survived. It is this building that has been incorporated into the design of Curzon Street station. The building which will form an entrance leading out onto Curzon Street is currently undergoing refurbishment. Once completed the building will include "a new steel structural frame to strengthen the building, a new lift giving access to all four levels, new glass balustrade for the historic staircase, internal fit-out, roof repairs, structural repairs to the external façade, and a full clean of the external building masonry." source HS2 Ltd

The original building which formed the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway

There will be 3 departures from Curzon St to London each hour, taking just 45 minutes to reach the capital, stopping at Interchange and Old Oak Common. There will also be services to Manchester once HS2 phase 2b is complete, with the journey taking just 41 minutes, slashing the Birmingham to Manchester journey time in half. There are currently plans to operate services to Leeds once phase 2 East is completely, but there are currently questions over whether this phase will be built in full or not. If the section of HS2 to Leeds is built in full then the journey time from Birmingham to Leeds would be 49 minutes, cutting the journey time in half, down from 2 hours currently.

Komatsu excavator loading a Wacker Neuson Dual View dumper on the site of what will be Curzon Street station

Although there wasn't a great deal of construction to see during my visit to the West Midlands it was certainly good to see that some progress is finally being made after 10 years of discussion. Looking back at my 5 years of campaigning activity from 2009 I'm not sure what, if any impact I made, but I felt strongly at the time that someone should be challenging the myths from HS2 opponents. It's frustrating to see that although over 10 years have passed, some of the old tropes such it only saving 15 minutes are still being circulated, but despite the best efforts of a well funded and vociferous anti-HS2 campaign the line is being built and there's very little the current cohort of opponents can do but add to the cost, through the need for extra security and legal fees to force the removal of protesters.

For me, my brief foray into campaigning inspired a love of the railways which has stayed with me and has inspired me to continue campaigning, but now on more of a local level, which has seen me campaigning for improved rail links on the Wrexham-Bidston line.

I hope to be able to make it down the West Midlands and further south again to see how construction progresses on this monumental construction project.

 

 

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Midland Metro growing ambition

The 20km Midland Metro tram line between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was officially opened on the 30th of May 1999. Plans for a network serving the West Midlands were first proposed back in 1984, however it took a further 4 years before a serious proposal was announced.

Plans for a new light rail network were announced in 1988 and in November of that year the Bill to give powers to Centro to build the first line was deposited in Parliament. The initial line would follow much of the disused track bed of the Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line.

The Bill became an act of parliament a year later, however construction of the £145m line (at 1995 prices) did no begin until 1995 and was expected to open in August 1998. The consortium building the new line missed the deadline by 10 months and was forced to pay compensation.

The new line which was initially constructed between Wolverhampton St George's and Birmingham Snow Hill, with 23 stops in between finally opened in May 1999. It was the intention that this first line (Line 1) would be the first of several lines which would be built connecting Wolverhampton to Walsall and Birmingham City Centre to Birmingham Airport. Unfortunately however in 1997 Centro had to concede that it was unable to find funding for it's ambitious 3 line tram network.

In 2005 The Nation Audit Office concluded that line had not reached it's full potential of 8m passengers a year, instead the number of passengers using the line reached a plateau of around 5m which was still the case in 2015. The reason given was that line did not serve Birmingham City Centre, stopping instead just outside at Snow Hill Station.

The trams

The line was served by 16 T-69 trams built by AnsaldoBreda in Italy, each tram had a capacity of 156 passengers, 100 standing and 56 seated. The trams were refurbished in 2013, yet only a year later the trams were phased out as new replacement trams arrived.

Between 2014 and 2015 the entire fleet of T-69 trams was replaced with 21 Urbos 3 trams built by CAF in Spain. These vehicles had a capacity of 210, 156 standing and 54 seated. The £40m contract for the new trams included the construction of a new maintenance facility at Wednesbury.

Urbos 3 tram passing New Street station

New Street extension

The arrival of the new trams coincided with a turning point for the Midland Metro line and a new extension to Birmingham New Street station. Government approval for the 1.3km extension from Snow Hill to New Street via Colmore Circus, Upper Bull Street, Corporation Street and Stephenson Street was granted in February 2012.

Work on the extension began in June 2012 and it was hoped the the first services would be operating by March 2015. Unfortunately a series of delays meant that by December 2015 trams were only operating as far as Bull Street tram stop. It wasn't until May 2016 that trams finally began serving New Street.

Urbos 3 tram at Birmingham New Street stop

The Future

A further boost came to Midland Metro in June 2016 when the then Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin gave the go ahead to a £18m extension of the line in Wolverhampton. The project will extend the line along Pipers Row with stops at the bus station and the city’s railway station. The scheduled opening date for the extension is 2019.

Plans to extended the line from New Street to Centenary Square by 2019 are also at an advanced stage. Currently the line terminates at the junction of Stephenson St and Pinfold St. At this point trams turn back to make the return journey to Wolverhampton.

Stephenson St is currently the end of the line

Tram approaching Snow Hill stop passing No. 2 Snow Hill

Tram bound for New Street stands at Snow Hill stop

With a new sense of optimism and with HS2 on the horizon plans are now being drawn up to build a new line branching out from Corporation Street to Curzon Street and further still to Birmingham Airport. There are also plans for an extension to Edgbaston which it is hoped will open in 2021.

It may have taken several decades but appears that the West Midlands may finally get a network worthy of it's size and importance.

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Birmingham New Street redevelopment

On Sunday the 21st of September (2015) Network Rail finally unveiled the new enlarged concourse at Birmingham New Street station. The culmination of 5 years work requiring the effort of 1000 engineers working on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The new concourse which is the size of 13 Wimbledon centre courts is now bathed in light thanks to a new 3,300 square meter roof made from steel and ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene). The new roof introduces light to the station for the first time since the Brutalist concrete station was built to replace the original station in the 1960s.

The impressive roof which covers the new concourse

The £600m project to refurbish the station was part of a larger £750m development which also included the redevelopment of the old Pallasades shopping centre. The shopping centre now re-branded as Grand Central contains 200,00 sq ft of retail space as well as a new 250,000 flagship John Lewis store

Exterior of John Lewis and the "Media Eye" at the Southside exit

The £600m price tag of the station development may come as a surprise, especially considering that no new train capacity has been provided, however there was never any doubt that the station was in need of major redevelopment.

Birmingham New St is the busiest station outside of London serving 170,000 passengers every day, despite the fact the 1960's station was only designed to handle about half that number. The new station concourse and platform alterations will enable the station to handle almost double the number served today. 

In order to accommodate so many passengers, 30 new escalators and 15 new lifts have been installed, as well as 6 separate entry/exit points each with 10 ticket gates. Below the concourse all 12 platforms will be improved to allow better passenger flow and to open up the platform level making it seem less claustrophobic. Work was still underway on platform 5 on the day of my visit. 

The view through the de-cluttered platform level

An engineering train stands at platform 5 where work is still ongoing

Despite being the busiest station outside of London the 5 year development of the station continued whilst it remained open to the public. This was achieved by phasing the works, with a small concourse area developed first which opened in 2013. This allowed for the closure of a much larger area which involved the closure of the Smallbrook Queensway exit. 

The closure of the exit allowed for the massive task of the removal of 20,000 tonnes of concrete to create the new atrium. In order to bring light to the new concourse enormous holes were cut through several floors made of steel reinforced concrete. The removal of concrete relied on the use of special remotely operated excavators which allowed the operator to work safely from a distance whilst the machine broke up the structural concrete.

In order to reduce the impact of the development on commuters and people working and living within the city Network Rail made use of trains to transport waste material away. The use of trains saved 10,000 lorry journeys from the city centres roads. 

There was still a lot of work ongoing during my visit on the 22nd of September, Platform 5 was still being refurbished and external work is still yet to be complete on the Stephenson Street exit. Despite this passengers and members of the public were still able to enjoy the new atrium and the striking architectural features on the Southside and Smallbrook Queensway exists. 

Work continuing on the external features of the Stephenson Street exit. 

A few images of the striking architectural features, such as the reflective cladding and "media eye"

Some may question the £600m cost of the redevelopment, however I doubt that many will question that the station was in dire need of development or the success of the development itself. The building is striking and along with the Bullring it is a genuine architectural asset to the city. More importantly though the station now works for passengers and has enabled it to handle an ever increasing number of passengers.

The numbers

• £750m Total development cost

• 1000 engineers worked 24/7 for 5 years

• 20,000 tonnes of concrete removed to create the atrium 

• 3,300 square metre roof made from steel and ETFE

• 170,000 passengers use the station every day 

• 10,000 lorry journeys saved by using rail to remove waste 

• 30 new escalators installed

• 15 new lifts installed 

• 13 centre courts at Wimbledon, the size of the new concourse

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