Curzon Street transforms Birmingham

High Speed 2’s station in central Birmingham is set to transform the city’s rail architecture while recognising its history. ANDY RODEN examines the plan for this major architectural statement on Britain’s new railway

Aside from the economic, network capacity and social benefits HS2 will deliver, one of its other objectives is to spark regeneration. In Birmingham, long before services start, the city is feeling the effect of businesses locating there to take advantage of the muchimproved transport links HS2provides in its own right as well as via released capacity on the conventional network.

Eight options for the station site were considered. The most obvious – extending New Street – was ruled out on the grounds of feasibility, disruption and the fact that an additional new station in the city would be needed. Snow Hill missed the cut because the shallow tunnels at either end would need to be rebuilt to HS2 loading gauge, and Moor Street because its orientation was incompatible with the route.

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