Major programmes at Euston, Crewe and elsewhere are getting under way, as DAVE PENNEY, Network Rail’s Passenger Director for the North West & Central Region, tells PHILIP SHERRATT and ANDY RODEN
HS2 is a huge project in every sense. Construction is advancing all along the Phase One route between London and the West Midlands. But the project is also beginning to have a visible impact on the conventional railway.
From the terminus at London Euston, via Old Oak Common in west London, where new platforms will be built on the Great Western main line, through the interaction with East West Rail in Buckinghamshire, to the connection at Handsacre in Staffordshire and the major project to reconfigure the layout at Crewe, billions of pounds will be spent preparing the existing network to be ready for the new high-speed line.
Wherever HS2 touches the classic network, responsibility for the work falls to Network Rail and HS2’s joint On Network Works (ONW) team. ‘This is neat as it means HS2 can let NR get on with work on its own infrastructure’ reports Dave Penney, NR’s Passenger Director for North West & Central Region. ‘We’ve got the interfaces right – we have very close interaction with HS2 and it’s working really well.’
