http://www.modern-railways.com Apr il 2019 Modern Railways 93
High Speed 2
W
ith main HS2 works
contracts announced
for Euston and Old
Oak Common (p92, last month),
plans for the wider development of
Euston are starting to crystallise.
HS2 works at Euston are gathering
pace with scaffolding climbing up
the two 1970s towers in front of the
station, tower cranes in place and
the demolition of the old IBIS and
UCL buildings on Hampstead Road
complete. The disused former National
Temperance Hospital has also gone.
But what of the plans to develop
a masterplan for the wider Euston
site? Network Rail HS2 integration
director Neil Kirkwood says options
for the conventional station are being
whittled down with the submission
of an outline business case for its
redevelopment 12 to 18 months away.
Even without the arrival of
HS2 Euston currently handles
more than double the number
of passengers the 1960s station
redevelopment was built for and
for the past decade governments
have recognised that a major
intervention is required. If Crossrail 2
gets the go-ahead, then even more
passengers will be using Euston.
To create space for the HS2 station
two Network Rail platforms are being
incorporated into the footprint of the
HS2 development to the west, leaving
15 platforms on the Network Rail side.
Options to rebuild and straighten
all 15 platforms, retain a southern
concourse or build a new concourse
above the tracks have now been
rejected, according to Mr Kirkwood.
Instead, an underground concourse
is the preferred approach to allow
fast pedestrian links (via escalators)
to Underground lines and Crossrail 2.
A small number of platforms on the
eastern side would have to be rebuilt
but, crucially, this approach avoids
the hugely disruptive and wholesale
rebuilding of the entire platform
layout with all the track and signalling
reworking that would entail.
The Euston masterplan, for which
Lendlease is development partner,
aims to build in opportunities
for oversite development as well
as provide new connections
between the communities on the
east and west of the station.
Mr Kirkwood says Eversholt Street,
on the east side of the station, has
emerged as a key part of this concept.
At the moment the north-south road
has some shops on one side, but
the other side is a 230-metre-long
black brick wall forming the stationperimeter. Consequently, the
attractions (and hence footfall) along
Eversholt Street are limited. Now
Network Rail wants to use its land
and buildings to bring shops and
restaurants to the other side of the
road, a move that could transform the
use of the area and bring in substantial
revenue to help pay for the station
redevelopment. A commitment to
provide a new east-west connection
across both the Network Rail and HS2
stations will be included in the plans,
which are expected to be lodged
with Camden Council in early 2020.
Redeveloping the existing Euston
station remains a long game. Control
Period 6 enhancements funding will
be used to develop the final business
case, but this will not be ready until at
least 2022 when detailed design can
get underway. Construction of the new
Euston would not start until 2027 so
on current timescales the HS2 Phase
One Euston station will be ready first.
Back at HS2, and February’s station
contract awards have prompted
a legal challenge from one of the
bidders competing for the Old Oak
Common job. A consortium of
Balfour Beatty, Systra and Vinci won
the contract with bids from Bechtel,
Dragados/Mace and BAM Nuttall/
Ferrovial Agroman losing out.
Having landed the Euston HS2
works package, Dragados/Mace willnot be too disappointed at seeing
the Old Oak Common package
go to another bidder. But Bechtel,
which had opted out of the Euston
contest to focus its resources on
Old Oak Common, appears to be
unhappy about the scoring process
and has lodged a claim in the
technology and construction court.
This is not the first time Bechtel
has questioned HS2 Ltd’s process
for awarding contracts. In 2017 the
American company secured the
Phase 2b development partner role
but only after HS2 Ltd reversed a
decision to give the job to CH2M.
CH2M withdrew its interest following
concerns about a potential conflict
of interest between it and senior
HS2 Ltd staff who had previously
worked for the consultant.EURO TERMINAL CRANES
COME DOWN
It’s a sight that was familiar to
passengers travelling by train into
Euston over the past 30 years.
But now three of the four huge
disused yellow container cranes at
Willesden, in north west London,
have been removed to make way
for a new HS2 Rail Logistics Hub.
Once complete 16 freight trains a
day are expected to serve the planned
logistics hub, delivering equipment
and construction materials andremoving material excavated by the
tunnel boring machines digging
the tunnels east to Euston and west
to the outskirts of the capital. In
total the 150,000 square metre rail
hub is expected to process more
than six million tonnes of excavated
material – the equivalent of taking
300,000 lorries off the roads.
HS2 enabling works contractor
Costain/Skanska worked with JF Hunt
(Demolitions) and ALE Heavy Lift to
move the first two container cranes
last year. The third and heaviest of
the container cranes was moved by
the same team over the Christmas
break using a specialist moving
motorised jacking system. It was
brought down to ground level on
6 February in a controlled collapse.
After weakening the structure of the
crane, the team used an excavator to
pull the structure down onto specially
built crash mats. This crane has now
been dismantled at ground level, with
95% of the structure set to be recycled.
Originally known as Willesden Euro
Terminal, the site was built to handle
container traffic through the Channel
Tunnel. The first scheduled freight
train to cross the channel departed
from Willesden on 27 June 1994,
four months before the first Eurostar
train. A fourth container crane, at
the north west end of the site, has
been left in position. a Dan HarveyEUSTON PLANS EMERGE
Brought to ground: container crane at Willesden,
adjacent to the West Coast main line.093_MR_Apr 2019_HS2.indd 93 12/03/2019 15:09