HS2

[Edwin_m]

The original plan was for HS2 to take over the surface alignment of the Ruislip line, but they then decided to put it underground but the line would need to be closed to locate ventilation shafts on the formation.   At some stage the shafts were moved so the track could remain.  

 

More recently there was some talk of using it to take away the spoil from digging the big hole for the station, but they now seem to have decided to build an underground conveyor to load it onto trains at the former Wembley Euroterminal instead.  

[Ron Ron Ron]

15 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

IIRC, isn't HS2 going to run underneath the Ruislip line for its first few miles.........

 

The line runs underground, all the way from the Euston HS2 tunnel portals, via OOC, emerging above ground, just to the west of West Ruislip Station.

That's approximately 14.3 miles or so, including the OOC station.

From OOC HS2 station to the West Ruislip portal, the line runs underneath the former GWR Ruislip line, for approximately 8.8 miles.

 

The line emerges at West Ruislip and runs above ground and then on the long, Colne Valley viaduct, to the Chiltern tunnels eastern portal (east of and adjacent to the M25).

That's approximately 4.4 miles and the only bit of daylight, until the line emerges back in to the open again, further out in the Chilterns.

i.e. From Euston to the M25, approximately 76.5% of the line is underground.

 

 

 

 

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[keefer]

Have had a chance to look on Google Maps to see where everything sits.

 

Interestingly, the stop block (and what looks like a section of lifted track) on the New North Main Line is visible on Google satellite view:

https://goo.gl/maps/dgWZsvn7VvRQPPzL9

 

Going further East to what would've been (i think) Old Oak Jcn, you can make out that the points and some track of the NNML have been removed and the main route plain-lined.

 

A WikiCommons image of the view looking East from the Victoria Road bridge:

(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)

The NLL bridge can be seen in the distance.

Edited January 8, 2021 by keefer

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, keefer said:

Have had a chance to look on Google Maps to see where everything sits.

 

Interestingly, the stop block (and what looks like a section of lifted track) on the New North Main Line is visible on Google satellite view:

https://goo.gl/maps/dgWZsvn7VvRQPPzL9

 

 

Just like the Google image I posted Yesterday at 15:55

[keefer]

Oops, sorry! Missed that. 

[woodenhead]

On 07/01/2021 at 18:04, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

For a large proportion of those passengers coming from the Bristol area and elsewhere, getting to London "as fast as possible" will involve changing onto Crossrail at OOC and getting quicker access to central London, the City, Canary Wharf, or to more convenient interchanges with the underground, than having to change onto the underground at Paddington.

The same goes for passengers arriving at OOC from HS2..

 

On 07/01/2021 at 18:33, Edwin_m said:

I believe Chiltern are very interested in keeping the option open of terminating some of their services at OOC.  Interchange to HS2 may not be so important, as passengers doing that would be doubling back on themselves and north of a certain point would be better off heading directly for Birmingham.  But there are other connections to be made, particularly Heathrow.  It also helps get round the limited platform capacity at Marylebone.  

It's interesting that OOC could see off a lot of footfall at Euston, Paddington and Marylebone if people opt to switch here from GWML, Chiltern and even HS2 services to then use Crossrail into central London.

[caradoc]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

It's interesting that OOC could see off a lot of footfall at Euston, Paddington and Marylebone if people opt to switch here from GWML, Chiltern and even HS2 services to then use Crossrail into central London.

 

Agree, and in addition I plan to use GWR and HS2, changing at OOC, for travel between Scotland and Oxford, expecting the journey to be both quicker and simpler than via Birmingham. 

 

[RJS1977]

In terms of centre of London it may very much depend on exactly where people are aiming for.

 

Whilst in theory people could change on to CrossRail at OOC rather than carrying on to Paddington (GWML) or Euston (HS2), CrossRail calls at IIRC Paddington, Bond Street, TCR, Farringdon/Barbican and Liverpool Street.

 

Passengers heading to Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square may well still find it easier to stay on their first train and change on to the Underground.

[Siberian Snooper]

6 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

In terms of centre of London it may very much depend on exactly where people are aiming for.

 

Whilst in theory people could change on to CrossRail at OOC rather than carrying on to Paddington (GWML) or Euston (HS2), CrossRail calls at IIRC Paddington, Bond Street, TCR, Farringdon/Barbican and Liverpool Street.

 

Passengers heading to Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square may well still find it easier to stay on their first train and change on to the Underground.

 

I would probably travel on crossrail to Tottenham Court Road and walk to either of those locations from OOC, rather than mess with the tube and walk.

 

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

5 hours ago, woodenhead said:

 

It's interesting that OOC could see off a lot of footfall at Euston, Paddington and Marylebone if people opt to switch here from GWML, Chiltern and even HS2 services to then use Crossrail into central London.

 

That is the hope; so that pressure is taken off those terminus stations and more importantly, their local public transport connections (underground & buses), which would otherwise be completely swamped and overloaded by the increased number of passengers expected to be travelling in the future.

Remember, HS2 is about delivering extra capacity. The extra passengers that are expected to be generated by that additional capacity will put additional pressure on Euston and its local transport connections.

 

 

2 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

In terms of centre of London it may very much depend on exactly where people are aiming for.

 

Whilst in theory people could change on to CrossRail at OOC rather than carrying on to Paddington (GWML) or Euston (HS2), CrossRail calls at IIRC Paddington, Bond Street, TCR, Farringdon/Barbican and Liverpool Street.

 

Passengers heading to Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square may well still find it easier to stay on their first train and change on to the Underground.

 

Crossrail will provide connections with the underground at all of those central core stations, leading to faster journeys to many final destinations within London, compared with changing to the underground at Paddington , for example.

Alternately, changing onto the underground at Paddington and Euston will be the quickest route for reaching other final destinations.

 

Something to bear in mind is that from the GWML, a connection on to Crossrail at OOC, is just a relatively quick platform change, with eastbound Elizebeth Line trains, leaving towards central London (and beyond) at intervals of every 2.5 or 3 minutes. Many of these will be starting their eastbound journey from OOC.

Changing onto Crossrail or the underground at Paddington, involves a longer walk and descent down to the underground platforms, all of which will take longer.

It'll be horses for courses, depending on the passenger's final destination.

 

..

 

.

[lmsforever]

Cant really see people getting off at OO if they continue to Euston they will get across London easily but think many will come from the west to join and go north.Hope our services to London left alone and possibly wired .We can get to Brum easily from Haddenham via  a bus every fifteen minutes from Aylesbury so no need for an HS2 station .Lots of surveying and service roads finished off all this being done at night even then locals up in arms about being delayed for a minute ,they are so busy!

[black and decker boy]

HS2 set to reach 730,000 planted trees landmark by spring 2021

 

The planting initiative is part of our extensive Green Corridor programme, designed to create a network of bigger, better-connected, habitats and new green spaces for people to enjoy.  430,000 trees have already been planted across Phase One and up to 7 million trees will eventually be planted along this part of the route, with many new grasslands, meadows and recreational areas for local communities.

 

https://hs2inbucksandoxfordshire.commonplace.is/news/2021/01/11/hs2-set-to-reach-730,000-planted-trees-landmark-by-spring-2021?utm_campaign=NewsPost&utm_content=HS2+set+to+reach+730,000+planted+trees+landmark+by+spring+2021&lang=en-GB&utm_source=cp-email&utm_medium=email

 

[lmsforever]

Read about this idea and think it will be very benificial for the town  a circle of green with no houses cant be bad plus the green corridor will create new habitat. so all good.The new petition fails to recognise the new woodlands being planted perhaps the idiot leading them can see that this project will stop these people.

[Ron Ron Ron]

The West Ruislip tunnel portal site (looking SE towards London).

West Ruislip station can be seen on and behind the bridge over the Chiltern line and Northolt airfield can be seen in the distance (top centre right).

 

 

 

 

 

.

[corneliuslundie]

Here we go again:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55796445

Jonathan

[Mike Storey]

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

Here we go again:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55796445

Jonathan

 

Could be good, if they carry on to HS1??

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

Here we go again:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55796445

Jonathan

I'm praying for rain. Biblical, heavy rain.........

 

Actually I did like the quote about HS2 being the most environmentally damaging project in UK history.  I suspect at least the three busiest airports and half the motorway network would be worse, actually.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Northmoor

[Ron Ron Ron]

One protester said: "This is the only way I can effect change"

 

Really? This as delusional as it gets.

 

One protester, identified only as Blue, told the BBC: "It is all very dangerous and life-threatening but it is all worth it. This is the only way I can effect change, I would sacrifice everything for the climate ecological emergency to not be happening."

The 18-year-old added: "We want to be as safe as possible. It is not about us martyring ourselves, it is about delaying and stopping HS2."

 

Yeh Right ....?

His naive daydreams will be shattered at some point. 

 

In one of the environmental protesters' tunnelling guides, written by "Disco Dave", it says: 

"In the world of NVDA (non-violent direct action) there are few defence tactics that can compare with the protest tunnel.

Dangerous, laborious and time consuming, tunnelling is the ultimate and desperate tactic of desperate people in desperate times."

The first protest tunnel goes back to the M11 and 1993 but they only really developed during the Newbury Bypass protests in 1996. 

Protest tunnels against the A30 in Devon and Manchester Airport's second runway then followed.

Not only did they make household names of environmental campaigners like "Swampy" but they arguably changed transport policy - road-building reduced massively.

 

They didn't prevent or stop any of those projects and the assertion that they caused a reduction in road building is laughable. Obviously, down in the hippy camp, they didn't hear about the crash of 2007/08 and public finances being squeezed, or that wider environmental concerns have played a part. 

I don't think anybody remembers those past antics as anything but a novelty nuisance

 

 

..

[Ron Ron Ron]

HS2 contractors have completed enabling works for the construction of the Victoria Road Crossover Box.

When built, the huge 130m long and 24m deep box, will allow HS2 trains to switch tracks underground just west of Old Oak Common station. 

 

Details here.....

 

https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/hs2-set-to-start-permanent-construction-of-huge-victoria-road-crossover-box

 

 

 

 

[melmerby]

20 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

They didn't prevent or stop any of those projects and the assertion that they caused a reduction in road building is laughable. Obviously, down in the hippy camp, they didn't hear about the crash of 2007/08 and public finances being squeezed, or that wider environmental concerns have played a part. 

I don't think anybody remembers those past antics as anything but a novelty nuisance

 

Same with the Greenham Common Women

They appalaud themselves for a complete victory in forcing the USAF to remove it's missiles.

Nothing to do with changed world politics and the US moving it's "assets" elsewhere then?

 

 

[DY444]

10 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Actually I did like the quote about HS2 being the most environmentally damaging project in UK history.

 

A mixture of delusion, ignorance and plain old stupidity.  I'm sure the Victorian rail barons took full account of the presence of lesser spotted newts on the lines of route.  Not.  It's the eco-loon equivalent of Sky Sports where football didn't exist before 1992.

Edited January 27, 2021 by DY444

[Grovenor]

11 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

HS2 contractors have completed enabling works for the construction of the Victoria Road Crossover Box.

When built, the huge 130m long and 24m deep box, will allow HS2 trains to switch tracks underground just west of Old Oak Common station. 

 

Details here.....

 

https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/hs2-set-to-start-permanent-construction-of-huge-victoria-road-crossover-box

 

 

 

 

How we manage to get anything built properly when its all measured in double decker buses, eiffel towers and swimming pools is beyond me.

[lmsforever]

Note that good old Swampy is back  about time he had a proper job , there was a programe about the Newbury Bypass the other day and how good its been for the town .Had a campaigner on ranting about traffic and green matters but he had to admit that the town was better with less through traffic. Saw the tunnel entrances on tv news and boy are they big !

[Tom D]

16 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

Here we go again:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55796445

Jonathan

They dug a tunnel 100 feet long in 2 months, and nobody has commented on it being delayed, or over budget or even inspected!!!

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Grovenor said:

How we manage to get anything built properly when its all measured in double decker buses, eiffel towers and swimming pools is beyond me.

It's no good quoting measurements unless you specify on what they are based on.

Double decker buses: Lowbridge or Highbridge?

Eifel Tower: With or without the Antenna?

Swimming Pool: 6 or 8 lane?

Don't forget Tennis Court: Real or Lawn?

 

Just Imagine having to carry them around to measure up the projects