Cost of new railway lines in 2024

[Nottingham59]

What is the current cost of building a new railway in the UK? I'm thinking about the total cost, not just the civil engineering. There's a number of references I can find. Are there any better sources?

• East West Rail Central Section options Central section capital cost estimate (14.08.2019) estimated £60m per route km in 2017.
• The cost of HS2 phase 2a is now suggested at £7bn for 59km over open countryside. That's £120m/route km.
• The HS2 civil engineering contract C1 to design and build the 3.4km Colne Valley Viaduct plus 15.8km of twin-bore 9m diamter Chiltern tunnel was awarded to ALIGN JV in 2017 for £965million. Even after inflation, that implies less than £50m/km to bore a single tunnel.
• HS2 Phase 2bWest was supposed to cost £17bn for the station and 15km tunnel in Manchester, plus (I think) 5km tunnel under Crewe and 35km of open line. Suggests tunnelled city line costs perhaps £500 per route km.

These are therefore my best guesses for the following, in £million per Route kilometre, with examples of where these might apply.

• £50m: Upgrading functional goods line to express passenger standards (e.g. Ditton Freight Line to Warrington Low-Level)
• £100m: 2-track 100mph railway on an old extant alignment (e.g. Warrington to Lymm)
• £100m: New unelectrified 2-track railway over open countryside (e.g. EWR Bedford-Cambridge)
• £120m: New Highspeed line across open country (e.g. HS2 phase 2a)
• £200m: New viaduct over open country (e.g. Colne Valley HS2)
• £200m: Cut and cover tunnel in countryside (e.g. HS2 green tunnels)
• £300m: Bored twin tunnel under open country
• £400m: Bored twin tunnel under city

Costs for other construction (guesses)

• £50m: Tunnel Portal
• £200m: New halt on mainline (2x260m platforms, like Winslow)
• £1000m: New station on High Speed Line (4x400m platforms plus through lines, like Airport HS)
• £2000m: 6 platform HS terminus, (e.g. HS Piccadilly)

EDITED

• £20M: New halt on mainline (e.g. Camp Hill line)
• £400M: New station of High Speed Line (4x400m platforms plus through lines, like Airport HS)
• £1000M: 6 Platfrom HS terminus (e.g. PHS iccadilly)

What do others think? Are these estimates reasonable?

 

[Bald Rick]

As ever, the answer is “it depends”

Main civils costs can vary widely depending on ground conditions, and also on the availability (or not) of the materials and workforce in near proximity, and how easy it is to get them to site.

The costs of obtaining the land and consents can also vary widely, depending on current (and historic) land use and also current ownership. Previous use as a railway rarely confers an advantage in this respect.

My current rule of thumb is between £20m-£60m per km for a simple railway without big tunnels or viaducts. The bottom end of that relies on it being an already in existence railway, either in operation or technically so, such as Leven, and with little in the way of obstacles in every sense. Very few examples like that though.

 

[Nottingham59]

As ever, the answer is “it depends”

Main civils costs can vary widely depending on ground conditions, and also on the availability (or not) of the materials and workforce in near proximity, and how easy it is to get them to site.

The costs of obtaining the land and consents can also vary widely, depending on current (and historic) land use and also current ownership. Previous use as a railway rarely confers an advantage in this respect.

My current rule of thumb is between £20m-£60m per km for a simple railway without big tunnels or viaducts. The bottom end of that relies on it being an already in existence railway, either in operation or technically so, such as Leven, and with little in the way of obstacles in every sense. Very few examples like that though.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to have to change some of my estimates, above.

== == ==

Having done some more digging, I find there was a lot of detailed cost information released by East West Rail in 2019.

• East West Rail Economic and Technical Report (May 2023) https://eastwestrail-production.s3....Update-Announcement/b81870b9f1/ETR-Report.pdf
• Appendices for the above: https://eastwestrail-production.s3....nouncement/9a2d6ec314/ETR-Appendices-2023.pdf. See Appendix 8 (pdf page 82/250)

Also the East West Rail Central Section options Central section capital cost estimate (14.08.2019) has lots of very detailed information about costs. https://eastwestrail-production.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/public/Central-Section-Options.pdf

• The table on page 8 of 63 gives the cost of each option A-F between Bedford and Cambridge
• The table on page 25 of 63 gives details of unit costs for Railway control systems; Electric Power; Telecoms; Civil Engineering; Enabling works; project development etc. It gives costs for plain line, embankments, cuttings, stations, bridges and viaducts etc etc, (but not tunnelling as there were none on EWR.)

The National Audit Office investigation into East West Rail (13 Dec 2023) gives the latest estimates for Bicester-Bletchley at £1,240M and Bletchley-Cambridge at £4,660-5,340M. https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/investigation-into-the-east-west-rail-project.pdf

 

[zwk500]

• £200m: New halt on mainline (2x260m platforms, like Winslow)

On this, I've got no idea how you've arrived at £200m for a new station. For a single track line you've looking at low single figure millions, for double track 10-20m. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...rs-thanks-to-16-million-government-investment (Reading Green Park - £16m, Portway P&R £2.25m). Also, I thought Winslow was going to be nearer 160m platforms? (not that platform length makes that much of a difference if the site is big enough).

 

[Nottingham59]

On this, I've got no idea how you've arrived at £200m for a new station. For a single track line you've looking at low single figure millions, for double track 10-20m. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...rs-thanks-to-16-million-government-investment (Reading Green Park - £16m, Portway P&R £2.25m). Also, I thought Winslow was going to be nearer 160m platforms? (not that platform length makes that much of a difference if the site is big enough).

Yeah, I know. I was guided by the HS2 costs of stations, which are much more than a simple halt. God knows how HS2 manages to get the cost of the Airport Station up to £400M. And that was in 2018. https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...manchester-airport-hs2-train-station-14424392

The three stations on the Camphill line cost £60M. So that agrees with your figures. Thanks.

 

[Bald Rick]

Yeah, I know. I was guided by the HS2 costs of stations, which are much more than a simple halt. God knows how HS2 manages to get the cost of the Airport Station up to £400M. And that was in 2018. https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...manchester-airport-hs2-train-station-14424392

It was / will be below ground, with two platforms and four lines, so a big hole to dig (not much smaller than Stratford International). Then a massive Multi Storey car park (about 2000 spaces?) - thats going to be £30m alone. New link roads including a bridge over the M56, environmentsl mitigation, etc etc it sll adds up very quckly.

For comparison Brent Cross West was £400m (apparently!).

As ever ‘it depends’.

 

[Nottingham59]

It was / will be below ground, with two platforms and four lines, so a big hole to dig (not much smaller than Stratford International). Then a massive Multi Storey car park (about 2000 spaces?) - thats going to be £30m alone. New link roads including a bridge over the M56, environmentsl mitigation, etc etc it sll adds up very quckly.

For comparison Brent Cross West was £400m (apparently!).

As ever ‘it depends’.

I see. I hadn't realised that the Airport station was so low down - 10 metres below the level of Timperley Brook. That's quite some hole! I don't think they'll ever persuade Manchester Airport to pay for it.

 

[ac6000cw]

On this, I've got no idea how you've arrived at £200m for a new station. For a single track line you've looking at low single figure millions, for double track 10-20m.

Soham station cost £18.6 million to build a few years ago (opened end of 2021), for a single platform unstaffed halt with no facilities other than a couple of waiting shelters and a modest car park (about 50 spaces), right on the edge of the town on flat ground.

 

[Trainbike46]

Soham station cost £18.6 million to build a few years ago (opened end of 2021), for a single platform unstaffed halt with no facilities other than a couple of waiting shelters and a modest car park (about 50 spaces), right on the edge of the town on flat ground.

still very far from £200 million for a simple station.

I thought the works at Soham included some other things as well as the station?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I see. I hadn't realised that the Airport station was so low down - 10 metres below the level of Timperley Brook. That's quite some hole! I don't think they'll ever persuade Manchester Airport to pay for it.

If that's correct, one would hope that it has better flood protection than certain sections of the nearby A555 road.

 

[ac6000cw]

still very far from £200 million for a simple station.

Nottingham59 meant to say £20 million, not £200 million - see the correction in post #3 above.

I thought the works at Soham included some other things as well as the station?

This is Google streetview of the station - the footbridge maintains access to a footpath on the far side of the line, but was also intended to provide access to a 2nd platform if the line is ever doubled through it in the future.

 

[geordieblue]

Soham station cost £18.6 million to build a few years ago (opened end of 2021), for a single platform unstaffed halt with no facilities other than a couple of waiting shelters and a modest car park (about 50 spaces), right on the edge of the town on flat ground.

To be fair Horden cost £10.5 million for a two platform station with a footbridge and ramps and similar lack of shelters - potentially other factors eg cost of land / labour may be coming into play as well.

 

[Nottingham59]

Nottingham59 meant to say £20 million, not £200 million - see the correction in post #3 above.

No. I was quite simply wrong! The £200M was just a guess based on a fifth of the costs for an HS2 station and I didn't really think about it. Thank you everybody who has pointed out how inflated that initial figure was.

The more I find out about railway costs, the more I realise just how expensive HS2 stations are; and how wasteful were their design decisions made early on in the project.

 

[ac6000cw]

No. I was quite simply wrong! The £200M was just a guess based on a fifth of the costs for an HS2 station and I didn't really think about it. Thank you everybody who has pointed out how inflated that initial figure was.

The more I find out about railway costs, the more I realise just how expensive HS2 stations are; and how wasteful were their design decisions made early on in the project.

For reference re. midsize new 'greenfield' stations, the current Cambridge South station project (four platform faces, two on the mainline tracks and two on new loops), including significant track, signalling and OHLE changes, is costing in the region of £200 million. Cambridge North station was costed at £44 million back in 2015 for a station with two mainline platform faces, one terminal platform and a large car park.

 

[Nottingham59]

For reference re. midsize new 'greenfield' stations, the current Cambridge South station project (four platform faces, two on the mainline tracks and two on new loops), including significant track, signalling and OHLE changes, is costing in the region of £200 million. Cambridge North station was costed at £44 million back in 2015 for a station with two mainline platform faces, one terminal platform and a large car park.

That's very helpful. Thank you

 

[Nottingham59]

Add ~£1m for every single point end you install, be it new install or relocate existing.

And you need to not just look at track and earthworks, what about signalling beyond points ? ETCS or clockwork it still costs money and I don't see any of that counted anywhere.

And 25 kV traction power supply ? You go from 2 to 4 track and in practical terms you are at least rebuilding the whole existing lot as well as adding new. Power grid implications ? Additional DNO feeds ? Substations ? You want capacity to carry trains => you need the power, more than there is today.

Then consider diversion / protection / mitigation of any water / sewerage / power / gas lines / rivers / streams / etc.

Your new 4 km railway needs all the legal and planning costs not just the civils.

Then on site you find somewhere some form of rare newt species or protected ancient tree.

And then you might get a figure approaching reality => which figure is probably the underlying reason it has not been done to
date.

Nice idea, but methinks you are way way off on costs estimate.

Good points, made elsewhere on another thread. Do we need to adjust the estimates given in the first post of this thread?

 

[zwk500]

Good points, made elsewhere on another thread. Do we need to adjust the estimates given in the first post of this thread?

I think there's a fundamental problem with estimates based on route-km or track-km, because the costly parts are often individual elements and they are not necessarily tied to the length of a route.

 

[Nottingham59]

I think there's a fundamental problem with estimates based on route-km or track-km, because the costly parts are often individual elements and they are not necessarily tied to the length of a route.

Sure. And for HS2 in particular these were viaducts and tunnels (which can be costed), and decisions to excavate massive and expensive cuttings rather than their original plan of a simple twin-track bridge at places like the A38 crossing in Litchfield (which were an unnecessary extra cost).

 

[zwk500]

Sure. And for HS2 in particular these were viaducts and tunnels (which can be costed), and decisions to excavate massive and expensive cuttings rather than their original plan of a simple twin-track bridge at places like the A38 crossing in Litchfield (which were an unnecessary extra cost).

Indeed, although HS2 is different in so many ways to any conventional rail scheme, even high-speed ones, I'd be tempted to exclude it from any wider analysis. There is a whole separate topic (several threads already exist on it!) about why HS2 costs as much as it does.

 

[Irascible]

Marsh Barton station, small two platform site on a suburban section of the Exeter-Plymouth main line, without any particular associated infrastructure as far as I remember, was originally quoted at £4.3m ( about 9 years ago? ) & opened last year at about £16m iirc. Whether that's all construction inflation or there's some poor project management involved I don't know, but I'd be surprised if anything similar cost much less.

( Digby & Sowton on the Exmouth line opened in 1994 at a cost of £700k )