High Speed ​​2 – Wikipedia

High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed line project between London and the Midlands, northern England and perhaps later the central belt of Scotland. The project is under study by High Speed Two Ltd. , a company created by the British government. The line would consist of a section between London and Birmingham, without intermediate stop, from which the line will then branch off towards Manchester and Leeds, by the East Midlands line.

In principle, the high-speed train project is supported by the two major political parties of the United Kingdom-the UKIP and the Green Party are opposed to this project which does not seem justified to them-however the questions of the cities served and of environmental impact remains a source of disagreement ^{[ first ]} .

The government of conservative-liberal-democrats coalition, formed in May 2010 , declared his commitment to the creation of a high -speed network ^{[ 2 ]} . In January 2012 We approved the construction of the first phase between London and Birmingham, with a scheduled opening date 2026 . The February 11, 2021 , royal approval was given for the construction of phase 2a, from West Midlands (Birmingham) to Crewe, with an opening to the passengers provided between 2029 And 2033 ^{[ 3 ]} .

The HS2 takes its name due to being the second high speed line in England, after the Transmanche line.

The project was revised downwards by the British government in November 2021; The second branch, from Birmingham to Leeds, is abandoned. Since its launch in 2009, the project had continued to multiply delays and costs. The latter, estimated initially at 36 billion pounds sterling, climbed to 106 billion, while the line should not be completed before the 2040s ^{[ 4 ]} .

The high -speed train extends through the European Union since the 1980s, with significant investments by several member countries, notably France, Germany, Italy and Spain, in lines allowing speeds greater than 270 km/h . In 2009 , 5 600 km high -speed lines were in service, 3,480 km were under construction and 8,500 km were planned ^{[ 5 ]} .

The opening in 2007 From the High Speed ​​1 between London and the Channel Tunnel marked the real arrival of the high-speed train in the United Kingdom. However, most of the British rail network dates from the Victorian era and therefore does not allow you to cross the 200 km/h . In 2009 , the British government advanced the project of a second LGV to meet the overload of the West Coast Main Line. This is indeed the rail dorsal spine connecting the four largest cities in the country, in addition to local services and freight.

It is foreseeing that it will reach its full capacity in 2025. A report by the Minister of Transport published in January 2009 Describes a 50% increase in passengers and 40% of rail freight in the previous decade and raised a large number of infrastructure problems. He proposed the construction of new LGVs as a solution and concluded that a line between London and the midlands would be the most justified initial section ^{[ 5 ]} .

The current line between the capital and Birmingham, overloaded, is used both by freight lines, by main line trains and by local omnibus.

The June 20, 2014 , during the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in the United Kingdom, an agreement in principle was signed on the participation of China in the HS2 project, in particular by the integration of China Development Bank (CDB) to finance the project. The CDB, which specializes in financing national infrastructure, has a great experience in financing high rail speed, in particular in the Chinese national network; More than 7% of its enormous outstanding credit is engaged in the rail sector. China CNR and CSR, the two large Chinese manufacturers of high -speed oars, could find there the opportunity to take their first export contract ^{[ 6 ]} .

At the Colne Valley Regional Park, west of London, a ZAD, materialized by suspended wooden huts, was created to protect the forest from this financially detected railway project (116 billion euros) and therefore concreting that , according to his opponents, threatens this natural heritage. ^{[ 7 ]}

Three groups of companies were selected to build the line ^{[ 8 ]} :

• Vinci with Balfour Beatty, will build 85 kilometers of line for 2.5 billion pounds, or 2.85 billion euros;
• Volkerfitzpatrick with Bouygues was awarded a batch of 965 million pounds (or 1.1 billion euros) for tunnels and viaducts;
• Eiffage, with Carillion and Kier, must make a tunnel and 80 kilometers of tracks for 1.4 billion pounds (or 1.6 billion euros).

According to the government the company HS2 Ltd Also consult the Crown Company China Railway Construction (CRCC) to reduce costs ^{[ 9 ]} .

On December 9, 2021, the Franco-Japanese group Alstom/Hitachi won a contract at 1.97 billion pounds to provide 54 TGV Zefiro (ex-bombardier/Hitachi) at the LGV HS2 which will be put into service between 2029 and 2033 ^{[ ten ]} .