Category Archives: Hs2

More trouble at t’stophs2 mill…

23 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Railways

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As we slowly descend through autumn towards winter the anti HS2 campaign follows a similar trajectory from failure into farce. All the protesters bluster that bloomed in the Spring as they set up new ‘protection’ camps has blown away like dandelion seeds. The name ‘protection’ camp was always an oxymoron as they never protected anything. From a peak of eight camps they’ve gradually been whittled down to five, some of which are now redundant, whilst others are just refuges for the remaining rag-bag of protesters as many have already buggered off home.

I wrote about their early financial shenanigans and internecine warfare in this blog. That warfare has continued as HS2Rebellion never did account for the £36,000 plus that was raised through crowdfunding. Instead, they came over all pained and ignored the calls to be open and accountable. But (to their credit) some activists in the camps wouldn’t let the matter drop.

This week was meant to be HS2rebellion’s ‘big push’, both on social media and outside Parliament, as this daft poster explains.

*Narrator* – only they didn’t rise up, few participated and the decisions are made by an anonymous few…

Anyone on social media like Twitter could be forgiven for missing their ‘online action’ as it was as big a flop as when The Hs2 Action Alliance (remember them?) once tried to organise a ‘Twitterstorm’. A handful of teenagers Tweeting stuff they don’t understand and who react badly to being challenged does not an ‘action’ make.

Worse was to come outside Parliament an online yesterday. Their ‘big event’ attracted just a few dozen people, many of whom were the same old faces, Middle-Class Nimbys from the Chilterns who’ve nothing better to do and a few self-styled ‘eco-warriors’ who think posting overly long rambles where they just make stuff up on social media actually changes anything.

“What are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be up trees – or something?”

Then the excrement hit the air-conditioning live on the HS2 rebellion ‘livestream’ when one of their controllers got into a public spat with a camp protester.

Asking where the £35k plus went is classed as a “ridiculous conspiracy theory” apparently, because the person blocked was no other than Hayley-Marie Pitwell (see my other blog for the lowdown) – as she explains herself…

It seems HS2Rebellion and many of the protesters are breaking out into bit of good, old-fashioned class warfare! The ‘posh boys’ (and girls) who make up much of the hierarchy of groups like Extinction Rebellion and HS2Rebellion do seem to have a knack of alienating some of the troops like Hayley-Marie! Now, I may disagree profoundly with her on HS2 as well as her world view, but I have to admire her persistence in following the money on a matter of principle.

As you can imagine, battle-lines were soon drawn as supporters of either side rallied around. If you so desire, grab some popcorn and browse the HS2 rebellion and associated Facebook pages to watch the fun. It’s better than many TV soap operas!

Whilst the farce unfolded on social media and outside Parliament you may be forgiven for asking the question “whilst they’re parading around outside Parliament, who’s actually trying to stop HS2”? It’s a question some of their activists were asking too. Here’s several rather revealing examples. Firstly, this one about the hopeless and hapless Denham ‘protection’ camp which is rapidly becoming redundant as the National Grid crack on with preparations for installing their new High-Voltage pylons.

It’s very true. All that’s coming out of Denham nowadays is a stream of videos showing what the protesters have utterly failed to stop. It’s akin to the old TV game show where the presenter used to tease losers with “here’s what you could’ve won!”

Meanwhile, over at Crackley camp, a lone protester managed to get atop a digger for a bit and sent this, which rather neatly encapsulates the futility of what they’re doing.

No ‘ground support’ means that she was on her own. What did she achieve (apart from getting arrested and having bail conditions imposed?). Nothing. More was to follow…

Does this sound like the ‘growing’ campaign HS2Rebellion like to bluster about? This was rather revealing too as reality is finally starting to sink in to some people

I suspect ‘holiday’ is a euphemism for people sodding off back home as many won’t return. Looking at some of the early photos the protesters used to post of their gatherings in the spring/summer is a bit like looking at old photographs of soldiers from WW1 where the dead, wounded or missing in action are labelled, only in this case it’s injuncted, arrested or gone home! With this rate of attrition and with the onset of winter I can’t see the protests achieving anything other than becoming more and more of a farce, especially as HS2Rebellions rhetoric and daft lies becomes more and more out of step with reality. The cognitive dissonance is strong there. You might compare their PR tactics to those of Goebbels, the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. In truth, they’re more Comical Ali than Goebbels!

Remember when Joe Rukin and StopHs2 were a thing? Until Extinction Rebellion came along, they *were* the anti HS2 campaign. Now they’ve all but disappeared. Joe Rukin’s phone still rings on the odd occasion a friendly media outlet need a quote, but that’s it. Their website tells the sorry tale. Compared to the heady days when there could be several posts a day and dozens a week there’s been one since early September, and that’s a very brief one to tell people where the remaining protest camps are!

Politically, the anti Hs2 campaign (and I use that word loosely) is finished. All that remains is a dwindling rag-bag of protesters who’re spending more and more time on infighting. How anyone thought this bunch could stop the largest construction project in Europe (spread over 140 route miles) is a mystery and an exercise in just one thing. Hubris.

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High Speed 2 (HS2) update number 2.

07 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Railways

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Blimey! I’d hoped to write monthly updates but pressure of other work means my last one was in July, so there’s a lot to report! Construction of HS2 has continued to pick up speed as work on the ground continues and a whole host of contracts have been signed that have created jobs around the country. This isn’t an exhaustive list as I’m bound to have missed things, but I hope it’s a useful round-up of major events.

On the 27th July a major milestone was reached on the OLd Oak Common site. After 2 years of demolition and clearance work, the site was handed over to main contractors, the Balfour Beatty VINCI SYSTRA Joint Venture, who will be building the massive 14 platform station.

At the end of July HS2 Ltd highlighted the fact Lydney based Mabey Bridge Ltd had won a contract to supply 10 modular bridge to the project. Mabey employs 130 people at its head office and factory in Lydney, with many local people working on the HS2 contracts. Extensive preparatory works are now underway to allow for piling activities and the construction of the diaphragm wall for the main HS2 station, which will be built 20 metres below ground.

All pictures used in this blog are courtesy of HS2 Ltd.

On the 9th of August the M42 motorway reopened 24 hours early after a   2,750-tonne bridge structure was carried along the motorway on a self-propelled modular transporter and fixed into place. The 448-wheel transporter took just one hour and 45 minutes to move the bridge span 150 metres. This was the first major new structure that’s been installed as part of the HS2 project. Later this year a similar bridge will be installed over the A446, ahead of two more bridge structures being installed which will span the new high-speed railway line.

The next day (8th August) the race began to find contractors to install the railways high-voltage power supply systems. The winner will be responsible for  the design as well as manufacture, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance of the HV power supply systems.

Approximately 50 traction sub-stations will be built alongside the line between London and Crewe in order to deliver power from the National Grid to the trains. The contractor will also deliver a dedicated  HV non-traction power network that will provide power to stations, shafts, portals, depots and railway systems along the route. The contract is worth an estimated £523m.

On the 11th August HS2 released the winners of the competition to name the first two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs).

The names – Florence and Cecilia – were suggested by students at Meadow High School in Hillingdon and The Chalfonts Community College, Buckinghamshire, inspired by female scientific and medical pioneers.

Around 4,500 people from across the UK took part in the poll to select the final names, with Florence taking 40% of the vote and Cecilia a close second with 32%. The schools that suggested the names are close to HS2’s South Portal site, from where the first tunnel boring machines will launch early next year.

The pace didn’t slacken and the next day HS2 highlighted the success of Port Talbot based Wernick Buildings in manufacturing, transporting and installing office and welfare accommodation to the M25 site where the TBMs boring the Chiltern tunnels will be launched from.

On the 20th August the striking design for the new Amersham vent shaft headhouse was released.

HS2 say “The circular single-storey building will be surrounded by a spiral shaped weathered steel wall designed to echo the shape of the site and the natural tones of the surrounding landscape. Robust and durable, weathered steel fades naturally over time to a dark brown colour. In order to let light through, the upper parts of the wall will be lightly perforated with a pattern inspired by woodland foliage”.

Below ground level, a 18 metre deep ventilation shaft will reach down to the twin tunnels below, with fans and other equipment designed to regulate air quality and temperature, remove smoke in the event of a fire and provide access for the emergency services.

On the 25th August the 1st of an estimated 15,000 freight trains that will carry spoil and construction materials ran. Operated by GBRf, the train delivered aggregates to the HS2 site at Washwood Heath. Over the next four months, more than 150 trains will bring up to 235,000 tonnes of stone from quarries in the Peak District, equating to keeping an estimated 13,000 lorry movements off the road.

A peak of around 17 trains per day will serve the Phase One programme beyond 2022. Other sites include HS2’s Rail Logistics Hub at Willesden which will welcome up to eight freight trains a day between 2020 and 2024. These will haul a total volume of around six million tonnes from the Euston approaches, including excavated material from tunnel boring machines – saving the equivalent of up to 300,000 lorry movements.

The next day Solihull Borough Council approved planning permission for the new landmark HS2 Interchange eco-station.

Next month, on the 4th September, the (largely symbolic) formal start of construction was announced, which generated a lot of media interest and certainly rained on the parade of the dwindling number of protesters who were still pretending they could stop HS2!

Throughout September several announcements were made about educational and technical tie-ups with groups and universities, all contributing to the growth in skills and employment that HS2 is helping generate across the UK.

On the 15th September a more tangible milestone was marked with the completion of structural work on the temporary pre-cast factory which will produce wall sections for the 10 mile long Chiltern tunnels. The 1000s of tonnes of steelwork for this and other buildings is being supplied by specialist steel fabricators, Caunton Engineering, from their base near Moorgreen, Nottinghamshire.

As well as the precast plant, family owned Caunton Engineering are also delivering structural steelwork for the general warehouse, workshops, soil treatment plant and the viaduct pre-cast plant. In total, around 2,400 tonnes of steelwork will be delivered from their factory in Moorgreen, Nottinghamshire, on the site of the former colliery. You can read more here.

On a more spiritual note, the next day HS2 announced that the company, working with the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, had agreed with Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey for reburials as a result of excavations at St James’s Gardens to take place there. Some of you may have seen the BBC2 TV programme that documented the archeological work at both Euston and Curzon St. If you haven’t, it’s a fascinating delve into the past and the history of the industrial revolution in Birmingham and well worth viewing.

If you’ll excuse the pun, there was more concrete news (literally!) on the 22nd September, when details were released of the new low-carbon Vertua Classic Zero concrete that was being trialled at the HS2 site at Euston. This provides a reduction of 42% in CO2 in comparison to a standard concrete. HS2 has set a carbon reduction target of 50% target for its contractors on construction baselines for Phase One civil assets (such as tunnels, viaducts and cuttings), stations and railway systems. You can read more here.

Continuing with the theme of carbon-cutting, on the 25th September HS2 announced it HS2 had trialled solar and hydrogen powered welfare cabins across its work locations run by enabling and main works civils joint ventures CSjv (Costain, Skanska) and SCSjv (Skanska Costain STRABAG) including Camden, West Ruislip and Uxbridge. HS2 say that data gathered from 16 Ecosmart ZERO cabins over a 21 week period on HS2 sites in Camden, Ruislip and Uxbridge showed that 112 tonnes of carbon were saved – the equivalent of what would be absorbed by over 3,367 trees over a whole year. In comparison, a standard diesel generator running would have used 40,000 litres of diesel fuel. You can read more here.

On September 29th details of a £36m contract awarded to Booth Industries of Bolton, which will supply high-pressure safety doors for the internal passages linking the high speed rail project’s tunnels. more than 300 units manufactured at a new purpose-built facility in the town, and create up to fifty jobs over the next ten years.

OCtober got off to a bang when on the 5th HS2 revealed that the contract for the modular slab track system for Phase One and 2a had been awarded to a partnership which includes PORR UK Ltd and Aggregate Industries UK. The deal will see the slab track segments manufactured at a new factory near Shepton Mallet in Somerset helping to create up to 500 jobs over the life of the contract. The deal – worth £260m – will see the PORR consortium manufacture all of the track (excluding tunnels and some specialist structures) between London and Crewe, where HS2 joins the existing west coast mainline. More here.

OK, that’s the round -up for now. You can find more announcements at the HS2 website, but this will give you an overview of just what’s been going on and the progress being made building HS2. In the next few weeks expect to see more announcements, including a real landmark – the arrival of the first Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) from Germany.

If you want to read more about HS2’s progress I can recommend two links. This one to HS2’s media centre, and also this one, to the company’s ‘HS2 in your area’ webpage. The page has a wealth of detailed information on programmes, events, consultations and schedules of work covering all the HS2 routes.

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If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

You have to laugh! Anti HS2 protests go from farce to worse!

06 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Rail Investment, Railways

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As the construction of the new HS2 picks up more and more speed with new contracts announced almost every week (a detailed blog on these is coming shortly), the tiny bunch of anti HS2 protesters lurch from one disasterous defeat to another as their numbers continue to dwindle due to a combination of arrests, injunctions and the fact the schools and colleges have gone back. Oh, and the weather! The ‘fair-weather’ anarchists like to pose and posture to their friends on social media in the sunshine – but muddy fields, cold mornings and heavy rain really aren’t their thing.

Nowhere has this become more obvious than the ongoing (but soon to end) eviction at Jones’ Hill wood in Aylesbury Vale. The protesters had been left alone in the woods for several months as they weren’t in anyone’s way. Lulled into a false sense of security they built several tree houses and boasted how they would ‘hold’ the wood against HS2 as the wood was the inspiration for a Roald Dahl story, “Fantastic Mr Fox”. There was only one problem. None of it had any basis in fact!

The Roald Dahl museum – who are the real authorities on the man – say the wood that inspired the story is another one that’s nowhere near HS2!

The protesters boasts were about ‘holding’ the woods were just as baseless. Within 48 hours of moving in the bailiffs had evicted the majority of the tree houses and established that the claim of protesters in tunnels was just another empty boast.

Worse was to come, the protesters reinforcements failed to arrive, despite the media coverage the evictions received. There was one, Daniel Hooper, better known as ‘swampy’, who gained minor celebrity status during the roads protests of the 1990s. There’s only one problem. He failed then – and he’s failed now…

Meanwhile, another small protest camp containing just four people on the Rugby Rd near Cubbington was evicted with alacrity, whittling down the protesters eight camps down to six. As usual, HS2 Rebellion made all the usual ridiculous accusations about violence towards the protesters – all of whom were seen to be in rude health shortly after when they forgot they’d meant to have been beaten up. Funny, that!

This number will fall even further in the next few months – although some of the camps (like Crackley) are already redundant as the work they were trying to stop has already happened! Other camps will linger on as they’re on private land and not obstructing building HS2 in the slightest.

As the protests have failed to actually stop anything the protesters have little left to do but spread massive misinformation about the alleged ‘destruction’ HS2’s doing to wildlife reserves like Calvert. Sadly for them, this keeps getting exposed for what it is – complete bollocks. Here’s an example. Someone flew their drone over the work at Calvert Jubilee reserve a few days ago and stuck the resulting video on Youtube. .

It’s painfully obvious to anyone with an open mind that the reserve is hardly touched, with work concentrated on clearing vegetation on the route of the old railways, including the former Great Central.

As we’re now into autumn and the wildlife nesting season’s behind us HS2 is ramping up the speed of the vegetation clearance work that it needs to do before major construction starts. This means there’s a huge number of active sites and a tiny bunch of protesters to go round. ‘High profile’ events like the eviction of Jones’ Hill Woods drag them in as they waste their time trying to stop the inevitable – meaning work at other sites is undisturbed. It’s farcical to listen to the claims some of them make on social media about ‘winning’ but this is the post-truth era and first major infrastructure project that’s been conducted in the new media age. I’m sure there’ll be a fascinating thesis for a student in all this next year!

In my next blog I’ll compile a list of the HS2 contracts that have been awarded since my last update. They total hundreds of millions of pounds, creating thousands of UK jobs from Somerset to Teesside.

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If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

There’s trouble at t’stophs2 mill (pt 2)…

19 Saturday Sep 2020

Posted by in Extinction Rebellion, Hs2

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On 26th of August my blog exposed the internal ructions, corruption and shenanigans in the anti HS2, campaign and the secretive agenda of many of the campaigners which has little to do with the environment (despite their claims) and everything to do with a wider political agenda.

That blog certainly caused consternation and opened a few eyes amongst the protesters supporters. Several have now make their Facebook pages private (which is rather counterproductive to a campagn that’s desperate for publicity). So here’s another update to the murky goings on within their failing campaign – which is anything but sweetness and light.

It seems that more than a few people are sick to the back teeth of Extinction Rebellion’s attempt to takeover the anti HS2 campaign, and also some of XR’s ‘star’ campaigners, like Larch Maxey, who certain media outlets like the Guardian love to publish puff-pieces about that are devoid of any analysis or background. Not everyone falls for it – including some of Maxey’s fellow protesters, as this Facebook post exposes.

I suspect some of the protesters who’re desperately scrabbling around for funds (as they never even got a sniff of the £37,000 donated to XR’s crowdfunder.) will be even more pissed-off to know that Larch is apparently paid a monthly salary by Extinction Rebellion – as he alluded to in one of his Guardian puff-pieces. This one, in fact. Maxey is heavily involved in Extinction Rebellion, he’s been named as one of their “Rapid Response Team” in this very interesting analysis of XR by centre-right ‘think tank’ Policy Exchange.

Now, I’m no great fan of ‘think tanks’ – especially ones that refuse to reveal who funds them, but one of the co-authors of their report on XR is Richard Walton, a former Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), so I have no reason to question the validity of their report. I also share their disquiet over XR’s ambitions, aims and tactics. Initially, I was sympathetic to them. Claimate Change is the most pressing probelm the planet faces and we’re not taking it seriously, but the more I saw of XR’s tactics and learbed about its imossible aims, the more I realised that it’s actually damaging, not helping the ‘Green’ movement. But then, I’ve long argued that the UK’s ‘green’ movement isn’t fit for purpose.

Of course, it’s not just Chris Wilson who’s hacked off with Extinction Rebellion, their control freakery and paaid ‘stars’ like Maxey. A long, rather rambling post from ‘Nick Smith’ has appeared on the StopHs2 Facebook page that’s come from him and some of the protesters down at Denham/Harvil Rd. You can find it here, but I’ve copied the text as it lifts the rock on the murky activities and tensions.

“Extinction Rebellion have finally decided to refrain from trying to take over control of the STOP HS2 protection camps between London and Birmingham, and instead they are offering to HELP the front line activists who actually live there, and to LEARN direct action from them, according to unconfirmed reports from the camps.Some of the eco-warriors at the Harvil road and Denham camps in Colne Valley near Uxbridge invited Extinction Rebellion to join them at the protest sites last year, and HS2 Rebellion was the name that was eventually chosen to be used by the new recruits.Unfortunately a power struggle developed fairly soon, with HS2 Rebellion apparently insisting that they controlled some kind of hierarchy and were in fact the “leaders” of the climate movement, and all the protesters were obliged to take orders from them.Extinction Rebellion released a statement about how HS2 Rebellion was becoming the umbrella organisation for all the protection camps and they listed their “criteria and values” which they claimed all the activists had to agree to and abide by.This was regardless of the fact that the eco-warriors had originally started the camps with the Green Party four years before XR came along to attempt to take them over and control them.HS2 Rebellion started their own fundraiser with £32,000 being donated for the Colne Valley protest by more than 1000 people. The fundraiser stated that the money would be distributed to all the protection camps, but HS2 Rebellion refused to share anything with camps that did not agree to join Extinction Rebellion and obey their rules.Two camps which agreed to join Extinction Rebellion and obey them were given £16,000 between them, but the Harvil road and Denham camps at Colne Valley near Uxbridge which remained autonomous and independent got absolutely nothing. The STOP HS2 organisation which started the local residents protest campaign in their own local communities against the high speed rail link 13 years ago asked for financial support but HS2 Rebellion did not want to help them so they also received nothing. Some activists objected that HS2 Rebellion was crowd funding off the back of a 12 year protest campaign and saying to the public who were donating that the money was going to actions and legal fees for all the camps, yet the activists were having to start a crowd fund for their own legal fees.Activists at the camps were being told they needed to meet the XR “criteria” to be able to get access to the money raised, and they said they never had this problem for three years “until the XR control freak fascists who wanted to cause disruption and bullying came along”.Eventually HS2 Rebellion produced the receipts for the money that was allocated and spent, and they showed that two camps got a total of £16,000 but the Colne Valley camps got nothing.Some activists accused HS2 Rebellion of illegally obtaining money by false pretences or even fraud, since the fund raiser page had made it clear that the money donated would be distributed to all the camps without any terms and conditions involving joining Extinction Rebellion and obeying their rules.Extinction Rebellion originally came to a protest march that they tried to get the Harvil road activists banned from, and then they started HS2 Rebellion in May 2020 which failed in their attempt to monopolise the campaign. Extinction Rebellion tried to impose a great deal of authority and control and to police other people’s behaviour according to their “values and principles” which were designed to dominate, control, and ostracise those activists who think for themselves. Extinction Rebellion gathered a lot of “intelligence” and expected everything to be run past them, and once the protest started building momentum with direct action HS2 Rebellion attempted to move into the camps, creating camp agreements which were rules the eco-warriors had to live by and which were policed by XR members.They then tried to kick off any activists who were not living by their rules, which pretty quickly failed especially as all the camps were started by local residents and eco-warriors who lived full time at the camps, and HS2 Rebellion would have made them homeless, so that did not succeed either.Extinction Rebellion tried to police everything that anyone who wasn’t a member of XR did, whilst controlling the behaviour of all those who call themselves XR, giving the impression that Extinction Rebellion may well have been infiltrated by undercover police and agents working for corporations (like HS2) and the oil companies.Some eco-warriors believe that if Extinction Rebellion had it their own way everyone would just wave flags and sing songs whilst being escorted by the police, and the sooner the genuine activists become autonomous the better.However the biggest concern for a lot of climate activists is that XR is fake astroturfing controlled opposition being funded by banks, hedge funds, and oil companies to negotiate with the government and promote the false solution of “net” zero emissions which would allow fossil fuel industries to continue to pollute the Earth and kill humanity.One of the Harvil road and Denham activists at Colne Valley reported that she had spoken to journalists that she knew when XR would not show them the receipts for the money they had raised in the name of the eco-warriors’ protection camps.”HS2 Rebellion tried to have a monopoly on the fund raising and the media. “We have never needed people’s money. “It just makes things safer in trees and tunnels when we have A grade equipment. “We are all doing dangerous things and that makes us all family”.Another eco-warrior said “each camp has it’s own set of rules and very different sets of people, it’s a very wide cross section that needs to be catered for without judgement or favour, all come from different places with a common aim which is to stop HS2 and the destruction of the environment”.Some of the activists from the STOP HS2 camps sent a message to HS2 Rebellion in May 2020 as a result of the claim by Extinction Rebellion that all the STOP HS2 activists were members of HS2 Rebellion and were under the control of XR.What actually happened subsequently at the STOP HS2 camps was exactly what some of the front line activists had predicted would happen.Following is the message that was sent to HS2 Rebellion in May 2020:”We feel any response, in the interests of openness and collectivism is best made in the open forums rather than to any specific individuals. “We have a statement we wish to put out, which isn’t responding just specifically to the individual ‘Rebel Action Agreements and Principles Values’ etc, but a broader statement.”At the point of writing this message there are ten people sat around a camp fire on the front line of resistance, living in occupation, with several concerns and criticisms to raise about what is developing around us. “Firstly, we feel like we are being spoken on behalf of.”We believe these parameters aim to homogenise this movement. “We believe that this struggle’s strength lies in its diversity and creativity.”The parameters set out in this document aim to homogenise the movement under the banner of HS2 Rebellion – we must ask, who are you?”The persons involved in making these decisions are unknown to many of us – even some who have been on the front line for more than a year now.”Who are you speaking for when you create these parameters within which those who oppose HS2 are being told to act?”We welcome HS2 Rebellion as an affinity group in the same way that we see ourselves as an affinity group within the movement – but reject what feels like an attempt for HS2 Rebellion to become the movement itself.”We will not stand for the co-option of this movement and for its monopolisation by a single ideology.”We are concerned as to how these rules and expectations will play out – namely the allocation of capital, both social and financial. “If HS2 Rebellion continues to monopolise the movement, funds, and media, the security and safety that these bring will be consolidated to the groups branded as HS2 Rebellion and reduced in others.”There are certain things in the parameters set out which feel oppressive and disempowering, replicating the very state that we are fighting against, such as:”# Limitations to who is and isn’t allowed to talk to media (citing the select group contacted to be ‘spokespersons’) – this is inherently exclusionary and runs the risk of preserving and furthering class division.”# We do not identify as ‘Rebels’ or ‘Tree Protectors’ – we find those labels dehumanizing and limiting.”Ignoring the deeper and broader intentions of people in this fight the reason the emphasis on the correct media/language is effective for this specific campaign is that it is respected within the eyes of the law/current capitalist/patriarchial/imperialist paradigm.”We do not want to be reduced to winning only this particular campaign. “We are focused on building a long term movement for social change, that does not and cannot rely on receiving the system’s respect due to it’s oppressive nature. “# Decisions about asking people to leave camps or actions are serious decisions made with potentially huge implications for the individuals targeted – this is exclusionary and counter to creating reformative systems. “This is not an exhaustive list, but simply a reaction and critique in the moment. “We do not wish for this campaign to be fractured into factions, but equally we cannot allow the whole movement to be co-opted into a homogenized package.”One group will not win this alone, HS2 is one symptom of the many ailments of our society, there is not one single way that this fight will be won – if and when this fight is won, the struggle will not end there”.

So who is Nick Smith and how’s he in a position to knw? Here’s the answer…

RU was Rising Up, the organisation that became Extinction Rebellion.

Needless to say, these revelations are starting to have an effect on some of the younger and more naieve people who were attracted to the anti HS2 campaign in the belief it really was all cuddley and united and about saving the planet.

Ignoring the levels of paranoia and fantasy (they’re going to stop Hs2? Seriously?) Smith’s post does give an insight into the XR and HS2Rebellion’s wider political agenda. This isn’t a bunch of people who care about a few trees, that’s just an excuse. As we’ve seen, the protesters are not above trashing chalk streams as part of their protests and their new camp at Euston Gardens is a rubbish strewn shit-tip.

Meanwhile, what have they actually achieved? Nothing. Not a single thing. Their campaign has been an unmitigated disaster where the only success has been to keep courts busy! Talking of which, an informed source tells me that Thames Valley police have a warrant out for Larch Maxey’s arrest as he failed to turn up at a court hearing! Various courts have protesters up in front of them between now and December – and no doubt there will be many more as the ‘eco-warriors’ tactics are hopeless and wasteful. I won’t give away why, but I suspect many can guess. They have another problem too. Many of their supporters who would turn up at camp for a day or two have no gone back to school or college – shrinking their activist pool to a puddle. With winter approaching and HS2 ramping up the final woodlands clearences and more evictions planned, this is very much the last winter of discontent.

I expect the next few months to be the protesters version of ‘Custers last stand’ – only with mud and PPE rather than feathers and bows and arrows! Many of the remaining camps on HS2 land will be evicted and the protests squeezed as there’s no trees left to ‘save’. After all, locking yourself to a concrete block on some cold tarmac in the depth of winter when all you achieve is to get arrested doesn’t have quite the same allure as sitting in a tree or in a tent in the woods and posturing to people on social media…

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Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week. No 27.

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Euston, Hs2, Rail Investment

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Normally I nominate a particular individual who’s displayed Darwin awards levels of stupidity, but this week’s award is a collective one that goes to all those involved with Hs2Rebellion and their latest stupid stunt at Euston, where they claim to have set up their 6th ‘protection’ camp. Here’s the nonsense posted by HS2 Rebellion on their Facebook page.

Anyone who knows anything about the Euston station area and the plans for HS2 will spot the rather obvious flaw in their plans…

This tiny bunch, which includes serial muppet Larch Maxey, whose record of failing to stop anything dates back to 1995 and the motorway around Burnley in Lancashire. But then this is the man who was flummoxed by a pair of electronic doors which he’s failed to superglue himself to, so it’s hardly surprising he’s made yet another hilarious gaffe.

Their problem? The trees they’ve climbed may be at Euston, but they’re on the South-Eastern side – which is outside the boundary and worksites of Hs2! They could sit up there until doomsday – it won’t affect HS2 in the slightest! Here’s a look at the area.

The gardens the HS2Rebellion protesters are in are the ones shown in green, opposite blue coloured Stage B2 of the Euston station redevelopment – which is entirely Network Rail’s responsibility. Only Stage A and B1 are part of the HS2 redevelopment, so whilst their tree-hugging might give them some interesting views of the work on HS2, it ain’t going to stop a thing! Note that the Hs2 stage nearest to them isn’t due to start until 2026 – which is an awfully long time to be sat up a tree, waiting…

You have to laugh as this isn’t the first time HS2rebellion have set up ‘protection’ camps that don’t protect anything that’s actually under threat. Poors Piece at Calvert is another example. It’s half a mile from HS2 work as it sits next to East-West rail.

These farcical events won’t stop Hs2 in the slightest, they merely illustrate how inept the remaining anti Hs2 protesters are. Many of the original protesters have had their wings clipped by injunctions or through bail conditions set after them being arrested for futile stunts.

Now the nesting season is coming to an end we can expect to see Hs2’s contractors begin to remove the final small areas of woodland that need to be cleared to begin construction of the railway. This will leave the protesters not up a tree – but certainly up shit creek! I don’t expect the protests to survive such a PR failure. Their rhetoric’s become increasingly shrill and out of touch with reality over the past few weeks as they’ve suffered failure after failure – whilst claiming they’re ‘winning’.

Watch the farce become even more pronounced before winter sets in…

2023 update.

The Euston protesters were evicted in a blaze of publicity in January 2021. Some huddled in a tunnel under the gardens with the last one giving up and coming out 31 days after the tunnel was discovered. They didn’t achieve anything, nor did they stop anything. After the eviction the gardens were secured as the site wasn’t going to be needed for a temporary taxi-rank until now – May 2023 over two years after the protesters were evicted! The protests actually backfired as the evictions were carried out at the height of the Covid pandemic when London was in lockdown. The protesters and their supporters ignored lockdown and put the safety of emergency services, police and HS2 workers at risk. Evidence of this helped HS2 Ltd secure the route-wide injunction granted in October 2022. But. by then the protests had already collapsed as all the squatter camps along the route had been evicted or abandoned. It was all one big waste of time and money. They never stopped a thing.

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The anti HS2 circus staggers on…

27 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Environment, Hs2, Rail Investment

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Regular readers will know of my growing cynicism around certain conservation charities, especially the single-issue ones like the Woodland Trust who play fast and loose with facts and deliberately exaggerate and distort the effects of HS2 on the environment. These organisations are doing the wider environmental movement no favours at all. People like me should be their natural allies (and donors) but I find there’s now a growing list of them I won’t touch with a bargepole and certainly wouldn’t dream of helping financially. Here’s the latest.

Tomorrow, HS2 is due to take possession of land on the edges of the Calvert Jubilee nature reserve at Calvert, Buckinghamshire to begin the early stages of constructing HS2. The reserve is bordered by the former Great Central main line on the East and the route of East-West rail to the North.

Here was the reaction on Twitter of Estelle Bailey, Chief Exec of the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust who manage the site in response to unrelated news about the IPA…

BBOWT

“Destroy” the nature reserve? That sounds serious! There’s only one tiny problem, it’s complete cobblers, as looking at a (publicly available) design map of the area shows. Calvert Jubilee is at the bottom of the map (link here)

calvert

When challenged about her comments and on being shown the above map, this was Ms Bailey’s response.

bailey 2

A “heck of a chunk”? That’s emotive nonsense and hardly a recognised measurement! The map shows it’s also completely untrue. The HS2 line itself passes the edge of the reserve in a deep cutting to cut down on noise and where that edge is on the nature reserve side the cutting will be constructed of vertical piles to minimise land take. The real impact on the reserve is a small auto transformer feeder station and service road, along with a landscaped cutting to drop the existing road under the E-W railway line, plus a narrow road to allow access to the inverted siphon pipes connecting the existing lake with the new ponds on the opposite side of HS2. “Heck of a chunk” Give over!

Here’s how the area looks now on Google maps.

calvert google

Notice that for the little bit of the reserve that’s taken there’s massive compensation for wildlife in the fact that the monoculture farmland to the right of the railway on Google maps becomes a huge area of new planting which is ringed by ponds, meaning there’s no net loss of biodiversity. Exactly the opposite!

Of course, this doesn’t stop some of the local Nimbys bemoaning what they say is ‘irreplaceable’ loss, but there’s several huge holes in this argument.

For a start, Calvert Jubilee is a brownfield site. It used to be a brickworks! Calvert brickworks was a massive undertaking and major employer that finally closed its doors in 1991. The website of the Great Moor sailing club which occupies one of the five former clay pits that’s now called Grebe lake contains the history of the site, mentioning that “Pit No.2 was formally opened as a nature reserve on 20th March 1978 by Sir Ralph Verney, a local landowner, and owner of the nearby Claydon House (now run by the National Trust). This 50-acre lake with surrounding 30 acres of land is now run by the Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Naturalist Trust”.

So, this 80 acre site has only existed as a nature reserve for just 42 years, in which time nature has completely reclaimed it – which says a lot about how resilient nature really is. Not bad considering some conservationists insist it’s ‘irreplaceable’ once gone – as it was when the clay pits were dug and the brickworks was in operation (from 1902 -1991). The work HS2 will be doing will be far more sensitively managed and the disturbance it will cause will heal a lot quicker – as we can see from the experiences of High Speed 1 in Kent and Essex.

It’s the doom-laden predictions of ecological disaster by conservationists opposed to Hs2 that really get my back up. Calvert has proved they’re nonsense once and it will do so again. It’s these predictions of disaster that do the conservation movements credibility no good at all. Yes, we should all do our best to ensure these projects have the best environmental mitigation possible, but when you get such dishonest claims bandied around, it really doesn’t help anyone. Here’s an example from Facebook posted by one of the locals.

griffin

The only catastrophe here is the use of language! They’ve seen the plans, they know the plans, yet they still peddle scaremongering like this. I’ve been critical of HS2 Ltd’s PR and public engagement policies in the past but I’m using these as example of what they’re up against. No mater how open and informative HS2 is, when you’re up against people who deliberately distort and exaggerate like this, you’re facing an uphill struggle – especially when one of these people is the Chief Executive of a charity who supposedly has a professional duty to tell the truth!

HS2 Ltd have countered this misinformation before. They’re quoted in response to yet more scaremongering in this article in the local Bucks Herald newspaper, where it turns out that the ‘heck of a chunk’ is actually just 20%, leaving 80% untouched!

calvert 20

 

Of course, there’s another irony here. The old railway line that Hs2 will be reusing at this point is the route of the former Great Central. The very line some of them tout as an ‘alternative’ to HS2 that should be reopened instead. Only they don’t seem that keen on the idea when it becomes a reality! Is there any finer example of hypocrisy?

Let’s see if tomorrows threatened protests actually materalise….

 

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High Speed 2 (HS2) update. No 1

25 Saturday Jul 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Rail Investment

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I said that as the project progressed I’d do regular updates on what’s happening, so here’s the first one.

Since my last blog there’s been several things of note on the construction, design and contract fronts.

At the beginning of the month it was announced that Sheffield based firm 3Squared had won a three-year contract to supply its RailSmart software, alongside some bespoke modules, to form a supply chain management system, giving visibility of the complex freight supply chain, and providing live performance, cost management information and operational control data in real-time. This is yet another example of SME’s across the UK gaining work form HS2. You can read more here.

HS2’s also busy on the archeological front, with important (and also one rather gruesome) discoveries made at Wellwick Farm, Bucks. Archaeologists discovered a skeleton of an adult male buried face down in a ditch with hands bound together under his pelvis. The unusual burial position suggests the iron age man may have been a victim of a murder or execution. Osteologists are currently examining the skeleton for further evidence of foul play. A large ceremonial timber circle was also discovered, along with other burials. More here.

Archaeological discoveries at Wellwick Farm, Wendover.

Archaeological discoveries at Wellwick Farm, Wendover. Copyright HS2 Ltd.

Archaeological discoveries at Wellwick Farm, Wendover.

Archaeological discoveries at Wellwick Farm, Wendover. Copyright HS2 Ltd.

On the 21st July Hs2 released this excellent new video in conjunction with the Cappagh Group showing the benefits of railfreight and how HS2 will free up capacity for more freight services, helping reduce UK transport carbon emissions.

More about the video can be found here.

On the 23rd HS2 released pictures of the final design for the Chalfont St Peter vent shaft headhouse.

Set back from the road, the single-story building will be wrapped in a simple grey zinc roof with doors and vent openings picked out in a dark bronze colour to provide contrast.

Taking its inspiration from the style of local barns and other agricultural buildings, the headhouse is designed to fit into the surrounding landscape. The pre-weathered grey zinc roof will age naturally over time, without loss of robustness or quality, while the whole structure will sit on a simple dark blue brick base.

Below ground level, a 60 metre ventilation shaft will reach down to the twin tunnels below, with fans and other equipment designed to regulate air quality and temperature in the tunnels, remove smoke in the event of a fire and provide access for the emergency services. More here.

VIEW 5_Y 15_New

What you wouldn’t know is what lies beneath…

1MC05-ALJ-ST-DMA-CS02_CL04-319000 Chalfont st Peter 3D PDF - Flat PSD

 

There’s also this excellent video on the size and complexity of the work on the M42 at Solihull.

The environmental side of the project has been busy too. The next day HS2 published details of a project which uses drone technology to aid ecologists monitoring the Skylark bird population.

Roadbridge, a sub-contractor to Align JV – the main works civils contractor that is delivering the portion of HS2 that includes the Chiltern Tunnel, has begun using the drones during its extensive environmental mitigation programme on the tunnel South Portal site next to the M25 in Buckinghamshire.

Monitoring nesting bird populations is crucial, providing accurate information which results in more effective ecological mitigation to protect the natural environment around work sites. At twelve metres above ground level the drone captures approximately a 9m2 area, providing a reduction in search times, and a clear perspective from a 90-degree view of the ground below. Using a thermal camera, the drone can calibrate to the ground temperature and other objects to lock onto a heat source and identify the bird nests. This includes birds on the nest, eggs on the nest and birds sheltering on the ground. More here.

So, another busy month for HS2 – and that’s without the continued work on construction sites along the length of the route.

And what of the protests against HS2? To say they’ve had little success would be an understatement. There are only half a dozen protest camps along the route and many of them are moribund, seeing little real protest activity or ‘direct action’. One (Crackley) is almost redundant now as the vast majority of vegetation clearance has been completed. There was an attempt to stop some work along the A413 at Great Missenden, but this was an abject failure and the protesters have now moved on as the work’s been completed. The major protest has been at the Denham site where National Grid are removing and re-siting electricity pylons and part of the work to divert services away from the HS2 route.

The focus of the protests over this past week have been a solitary Alder tree, which the protesters claimed was ‘ancient’. As the week went on it aged rapidly as their claims became more and more fantastical. In the space of a few days this one tree went from 400 years to 800 years old! There’s only one problem. These claims were utter cobblers! The thing about the protesters is that very few of them actually know anything about the environment they’re supposedly protecting. If they did, they’d know that ‘ancient Alder’ is an oxymoron. The average life of the species is 60 years – as their ‘friends’ at the Woodland Trust point out on their website!

alder age

Adding an extra zero to the trees age did them little good. Nor did the increasingly ridiculous claims on social media from the protesters, who were vastly outnumbered by HS2 staff, the National Eviction Team and both the Metropolitan and Thames Valley Police. Allegations against the police and HS2 ranged from the usual ‘ecocide’, ‘illegal’ arrests and reached new heights of absurdity with claims of sexual assault.

The whole sorry circus came to an end last night when the *cough* ‘ancient alder’ was finally felled after a day of to-ing and fro-ing between police, NET and the protesters which saw several arrests and a couple of protesters who were up on ropes across a chalk stream falling off and injuring themselves.

The irony? These environmental ‘protectors’ had spent several days charging back and forth across a chalk stream, supposedly one of the things they were meant to care about. How much damage they did to it during their confrontation is an interesting question.

stream

Needless to say, the bluster from the protesters at the end was hilarious. Here’s what ‘Hs2Rebellion’ had to say!

hs2 rebellion alder

Actually, the Hs2 rebellion Facebook page is good for one thing – their videos often inadvertently give the game away of just how preposterous their claims are. You can find it here.

Talking of preposterous, my last ‘Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week’ (William) who I featured here has been at it again. The man’s a fantasist who needs to carry a fire extinguisher at all times as his pants are permanently ablaze. This one from today amused me.

boots idiocy

The idea that a serial liar is in any position to lecture others about ‘fair and balanced reporting’ is delicious! I take it he’s rather upset that the Guardian are ignoring his fantasies. But Murdoch? Really? I’m assuming our friend from across the pond is unaware that the Guardian is actually owned by the Scott Trust and is completely independent!

Somehow, despite all the bombast, bluster and lies, I doubt we’ll be seeing Hs2rebellion achieving anything at all. The number of protesters who’ve been arrested, injuncted or who are due to be sentenced soon grows, as does their failure to achieve anything at all. Meanwhile, HS2 is ramping up work across the whole of the phase 1 route.

I’m sure my next update will have lots more positive news…

 

 

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Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week. No 26.

20 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Hs2

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Yes, it’s back! Despite the fact the campaign against Hs2 has been as pointless as giving away condoms in a convent and most of the old guard of Nimbys and other locals have bowed to the inevitable now its obvious HS2’s being built we’ve had members of Extinction Rebellion move in to provide some comedy gold.

Extinction Rebellion have left a very large hostage to fortune with their slogan ‘Tell the truth”. Here’s an example, with serial porkie teller Chris Packham (exposed in this blog for having pants on fire) holding up their slogan here.

packham

Of course, such a slogan is hypocritical is the extreme as XR members have lied through their teeth about HS2 ever since they became involved. Here’s one classic example. Step forward ‘William’, a American in the UK who calls himself ‘Boots on the ground News’ on Twitter.

william

Rather laughably, William claims that “The truth always surfaces” as part of his bio. Well, yes. It often does. But not in the way he meant…

You see, the man is just another of those odd fantasists who’re often drawn to groups like Extinction Rebellion and the campaign against HS2. We’ve seen them in action for years and I’ve documented many of them and their tenuous relationship with reality (and facts) over the years.

Here’s just a few of his recent howlers.

boots lies. 1

Eh? I’m sure I’m not alone in reading this and thinking – ‘hang on, I remember the summer of 1976 and standpipes and water bowsers in the streets – I’ve not seen or heard a dicky-bird about any anywhere in 2020’? Of course, in my neck of the woods (West Yorkshire) I’ve also seen a lot of nearly full reservoirs over the weekend, and earlier in the year I remember the damage caused to my local town. Not by drought – but by floods!

DG339636. Sowerby Bridge floods. 9.2.2020.crop

Oh, the UK metrological office would care to differ too. Here’s a couple of quotes.

“This winter (December, January, February) has been the 5th wettest winter on record (data back to 1862) for the UK as a whole as well as the 5th mildest.”

And…

“Is this due to Climate Change?

Met Office records show there is a recent trend of increasing rainfall on seasonal and annual timescales. Since 1998, we have seen six of the ten wettest years on record. However, rainfall patterns in the UK have always shown a large range of natural variation, which makes it more difficult to unambiguously identify long term trends linked to climate change. However, wetter winters have been observed and is consistent with what we expect to happen in the future with continued climate change.” You can find the rest of what the Met Office has to say here. And Spring? The pictures far more mixed, and more complex.

And what of June? The Met office reports that “Rainfall was 144% of average”! I’m sure those people across the country who were caught up in June rainstorms and flash floods will be as surprised as me to know it never happened! So, the assertion that this is ‘greatest drought the UK has ever seen’? Utter bollocks. The man must have been been getting his weather advice from the Daily Express!

Then there’s these recent classics. It seems that teenage ‘tree protectors’ have the uncanny ability to travel through time and space, allowing them to be in two places simultaneously. Take a look.

windfall. Crackley

On the 18th young ‘Windfall’ lives up a tree in Crackley woods eh? Hang on a minute, on the same day she’s supposedly up a tree in Cubbington woods!

Cubbington windfall

Clearly, it was such a rush to get between the two sites (they are over 6 miles apart) she never had time to change her red top!

woods

I could go on (and on) but as his twitter feed is so full of twaddle, lies and scaremongering I’d be here all night. The fact these people are now the backbone of the ‘campaign’ against HS2 should tell you all you need to know.

Sadly, the UK ‘green’ movement seems to be full of clowns like this. Whilst their European counterparts are helping to cut Co2 emissions by encouraging the modal shift from air/road to rail to tackle climate change, these muppets are trying to sabotage building the rail capacity we need to be able to follow their lead. The good thing is they’re so bloody useless they’ve not stopped a thing!  My concerns are twofold. The damage they’re doing to the reputation to the wider green movement, and the facts they’re filling the heads of young people like these misguided but well-meaning protesters with lies. They deserve better.

“Tell the truth”? The immortal words of ‘Jim Royle’ spring to mind…

jim royle

It would be good to see more people challenge the likes of @bearwitness2019 over the crap they fill impressionable young minds with. Feel free…

2023 update.

‘Windfall’, William and Packham have had it tough since those heady days of 2019. Packham’s done a good job of damaging his reputation over HS2 (amongst other things). ‘Windfall’ has gone with the wind and disappeared along with the other attention-seekers of HS2Rebellion whilst William still occasionally warbles on Twitter about the forthcoming ecological apocalypse, a scaremongering tactic that’s doing nothing to change things.

Meanwhile, HS2 gets built…

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High Speed 2 (HS2), the project’s picking up the pace…

05 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Rail Investment, Railways

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I thought it was about time that I wrote another blog about HS2 as, finally, after years of arguments. delays and uncertainty, the project is very much underway.  After 11 years of planning and preparation, HS2 finally received ‘Notice to Proceed’ in April. Now, even seasoned observers like myself find it hard to keep track of progress as the speed and scale of events means it feels like there’s a new announcement on progress every week – despite the Covid hiccup. It’s easy to miss things, after all, this is a massive project that’s around 124 miles long and that contains dozens and dozens of worksites (large and small) covering a whole range of activities. There’s archeological surveys, utilities to divert, vegetation clearance, mitigation works, the establishment of site compounds as well as some major civil engineering ready for the launch of tunnel boring machines of the construction of viaducts and bridges.

What I’m going to do in this blog is give an overview of what’s happening where, as well as some of the major announcements that have taken place in the past few months. If you want to find details of work being carried on in specific areas, HS2 Ltd have an excellent website called ‘HS2 – in your area’ which keeps people along the route up to date. You can find it here. This blog is not an exhaustive list. I’m sure there will be some things I’ve missed because of the sheer size of the project.

Firstly, let’s look at some of the major announcements.

2nd July. The contract for the overhead power lines on phase 1 and 2 a to Crewe is announced.

Worth around £300 million the system will cover 589 single track kilometres, including 62 viaducts, 293 bridges and 15 tunnels

24th June. Birmingham Curzon St station construction shortlist announced. 

The following companies were shortlisted for the contract to build the £570m contract to build the station.

BAM Ferrovial (a joint venture consisting of BAM Nuttall Ltd and Ferrovial Construction (UK) Limited)

Laing O’Rourke Construction Limited

Mace Dragados (a joint venture consisting of Mace Limited and Dragados S.A. UK Branch)

The station recently became the first HS2 station to gain planning approval. It’ll be net zero carbon in operation and adopt the latest eco-friendly design and sustainable technologies, including capturing rainwater and utilising sustainable power generation, with over 2,800m2 of solar panels located on platform canopies.

22nd June. Telecoms supply contract announced. 

The winner of the contract – worth around £300m – will be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, safety authorisation, testing, commissioning and initial maintenance of the operational telecommunication systems and the route wide security systems on Phase One and 2a, between London and Crewe.
The scope of the work includes 2,760 km of fibre optic cabling, 140 trackside cabinets, dozens of equipment cabins and radio coverage across 230km.

11th June. Pictures of the massive site where the Chiltern Tunnel boring machines will be launched from were released. 

Anyone thinking that work so far has been small beer about grubbing up a few hedgerows or diverting a few water mains were in for a shock when these pictures were released. The site at South Heath in Buckinghamshire is massive (136 acres) – but it’s escaped attention because protesters have ignored it so haven’t drawn attention to it. Hardly surprising at it shows just how ineffective they’ve been.

South Portal

The two TBM’s that will be launched from the site in 2021 are currently under construction in Germany.

28th May. Cleveland Bridge Co supply girders for the first major HS2 bridges at the M42.

Another solid good news story as a British company supply pre-assembled steel bridge sections.

26th May. Details of the Chiltern Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) under construction in Germany are released. 

Two of these state of the art machines are being built by Herrenknecht in Germany. 170m in length and weighing around 2000 tonnes apiece, the machines will run virtually non-stop for three and a half years.

20200506_074237

19th May. Old Oak Common station gains planning approval. 

Set to be the largest new railways station ever built in the UK, The station will have 14 platforms with a mix of six high speed and eight conventional service platforms. Expected to be used by around 250,000 passengers each day it’s set to become one of the busiest railway stations in the country when it opens.

d50a001c-aaa5-4352-ba18-0931ddd8cb08

15th May. The signalling contract is announced. 

The contract covers the design and build of the signalling systems between London, Birmingham and Crewe and up to 25 years of technical support.

4th May. Track systems contract is announced. 

The search is on for specialist contractors to deliver around 280km of state-of-the-art high speed track between London, Birmingham and Crewe – although Contracts covering rail, switches and crossings and pre-cast slab track systems will be awarded separately – with the track systems suppliers coordinating the design and installation.

1st May. Curzon St is the first HS2 station to gain planning approval.

Three planning applications for the new station and the surrounding landscaping were approved by the Council’s planning committee on 23 April, with the Council’s report concluding the station design “is truly world class”.

On the same day, it’s announced that…

Birmingham Interchange becomes the first railway station globally to achieve the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification – a measure of sustainability for new and refurbished buildings – putting it in the top 1% of buildings in the UK for eco-friendly credentials.

Of course, work continues at both the Curzon St station site in Birmingham and at London Euston and the surrounding streets where demolition of many old properties that have to be removed to make way for the new station has already been completed. Here’s a excellent time-lapse video from Network Rail showing the demolition of the old Western ramp up to the parcels deck atop the station.

Whilst the big announcements catch the eye there’s continual progress on the ground as the project gathers pace towards its biggest and busiest period which will be between  2024-25. That said, there’s plenty to look forward to in the next couple of years. The first tunnel boring machine is set to be launched later this year.

Contractor BBV plans to start creating the tunnel under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire at the end of 2020.  This includes the creation of a compound and upgrading Ridgeway Lane to support the future transportation of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). In autumn, the TBM will be delivered to the Welsh Road main compound via the upgraded Ridgeway Lane. It will be transported in parts and assembled on site.
Following assembly of the TBM, tunnelling will start in December 2020. BBV will bore two tunnels under the wood, emerging near the A452 and Dallas Burston Polo Club. Once completed the TBM will be removed from site.

So, as you can see, there’s a huge amount going on, despite the temporary hiatus caused by Covid. It’s not all about Phase 1 and 2a either. On the 23rd June the DfT issued new safeguarding instructions for Phase 2b whilst on the 26th outline details were revealed of the HS2 route wide ground investigation’s programme for phase two – a contract estimated to be worth up £250 million and delivered in up to 8 years.

And what of the protests and opposition to the project? It’s generated a lot of hot air and some media attention but achieved nothing. Not a single HS2 worksite has suffered serious disruption or been closed down for more than a day – despite the claims to the contrary. The half dozen protest camps are tiny with many under the constant threat of eviction. One has to wonder how the handful of protesters think they can stop the largest construction project in Europe when they can’t even stop themselves being evicted! Extinction Rebellion did organise a walk along the route from Birmingham to London but this only attracted a few dozen people. The irony was that whilst they were wasting show-leather on this futile exercise they weren’t able to disrupt any work on the HS2 sites! Such disruption have reached farcical levels, such as their last stunt where a solitary protester glued his hands together through an unused gate on the Denham work site. The level of disruption he caused for the couple of hours before he was removed was zero! Some like to paint the protesters as ‘heros’. Anyone who’s watched their antics on social media knows the truth about their (often) abusive behavior, assaults on HS2 staff and destructive antics. You can read about the whole sorry saga around Harvil Rd in this statement which was attached as evidence to back up the latest High Court Injunction.

It’s the same with the Crackley ‘protection’ camp. Whilst they did cause disruption, they didn’t stop any work from being completed and the camp is now pretty much redundant as the last few trees that need to be removed to make way for HS2 will be cleared at the end of the nesting season.

Attempts to disrupt HS2 in the courts have also failed. Hero Grainger Taylor’s attempt at a judicial review about the Camden cutting was rejected by judges on the 5th June, with no realistic chance of an appeal. (link).

‘Environmentalist’ Chris Packham is in court again this next week when judges will hear his crowdfunded appeal on the 8th July. Expect this to end in another humiliation as nothing substantive has changed. Here’s what the judges said last time.

HC Packham

No doubt I’ll be blogging about this after the event!

Apart from Extinction Rebellion’s ineffective efforts there’s nothing going on. Campaign  group (and I use that term very loosely indeed) StopHs2 are moribund and irrelevant with nothing going on apart from ‘rent a quote’ Rukin giving the occasional pointless, blustering interview. With the Government desperate to get the economy back on track and inject some life into it HS2 is needed more than ever – a point those opposed to the project refuse to grasp.

As soon as restrictions on visits are relaxed I’m expecting to be able to bring you some updates from worksites along the route so watch this space as this exciting project  continues to gather momentum in scope and scale.

 

 

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The UK’s largest new railway station gets planning permission.

19 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Old Oak Common

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Today, (19th May) the planning application for HS2’s west-London super hub, Old Oak Common, was approved by the Old Oak Common and Park Royal Development Corporation. This gives the go-ahead for what will be the largest brand-new railway station ever built in the UK with a total of 14 platforms comprising a mix of six high speed and eight conventional service platforms. The high speed platforms will be constructed inside a 850m long station box, which has the a volume to contain 6,300 Routemaster buses.

18_Aerial_A_13 cropped

The new station will incorporate some striking design features, such as an impressive sequence of interlocking curved roof forms, designed to enhance the open environment of the station and provide natural ventilation, minimising energy consumption. The arch forms also reduce the need for columns to support the roof, providing open sight lines, allowing clearer views compared to older, more traditional stations.

HS2 OOC Station Ground Floor Concourse View

The station design development has been led by engineering professional services consultancy WSP with architectural support from WilkinsonEyre.

When operational the station will be used by up to an estimated 250,000 passengers each day, making it set to become one of the busiest railway stations in the country and (potentially) second only to London Waterloo. It’s eight conventional platforms will provide seamless connectivity with the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail), Heathrow Express and trains to Wales and the West of England. This will also relieve pressure on Paddington station and the London Underground network such as the Circle and Hammersmith and City Lines as well as allowing faster Cross-London journeys.

HS2 OOC Conventional Rail Platforms View

The station design has been future-proofed with a sufficiently sized concourse and platform space to accommodate passenger growth to 2041 and beyond. Interchange with other modes of transport will be accommodated by provision of a dedicated bus and taxi facility, dedicated drop-off and pickup areas, pedestrian and cycle links, and upgraded highway infrastructure.

New public spaces are also being created as part of the design including a new public square directly outside the station that will include seating and cycle parking and may also be used as a setting for public artwork.

The station is designed to meet a ‘BREEAM excellent’ standard which is an industry recognised standard for buildings that reduce energy usage and materials waste, and minimise impact on the natural environment.

The station is being built by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty, Vinci and Systra (BBVS) who were awarded the contract to build the new HS2 station in September 2019 and are set to begin work on site next month.

The Old Oak Common area has historically been an important railway site as it was the location of the Great Western Railway’s locomotive and carriage stabling depot and workshops. Now, with the arrival of HS2 it’s set to leap into the future as a crucial transport interchange.