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HS2 Old Oak Common
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SamYeager
Member
- Joined
- 20 Mar 2014
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- 352
Appreciate the summary.
Snow1964
Established Member
HS2 have issued a map of work areas around the Old Oak Common construction area, and dates that work will be going ahead, one of the dates continues until April 2027, but most are shorter date ranges.
Surprisingly delivery of tunnel segments appears to be ending by 31/12/25, as I thought the Euston TBMs would be closer to starting rather than finishing.
https://assets.hs2.org.uk/wp-conten...mmon-interactive-map-September-Final-2025.pdf
Surprisingly delivery of tunnel segments appears to be ending by 31/12/25, as I thought the Euston TBMs would be closer to starting rather than finishing.
https://assets.hs2.org.uk/wp-conten...mmon-interactive-map-September-Final-2025.pdf
They presumably have enough space then to store all the segments on site.
Some of my shots from this week:
20250825_105746 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105749 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105751 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105753 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105756 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105757 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105803 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105810 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
And fresh aerial shots found on YT:
20250825_105746 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105749 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105751 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105753 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105756 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105757 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105803 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105810 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
And fresh aerial shots found on YT:
I think some of the dates haven't been updated in while (several years).
The probably should have finished the Euston tunnelling by the end of this year if they hadn't started delaying and pausing in 2022! They were originally going to have all 6 "London" TBMs going at once and the first 4 that weren't delayed finished a while ago.
Snow1964
Established Member
Although the document header says September lookahead 2025
So must be a newly issued version.
But maybe staff in Skanska, or Costain, or Strabag don't know which year they are supposed to finish the job.
Possibly the segments were ordered before delay, and they are stockpiled, so just need moving to site
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Nottingham59
Established Member
That looks to me like the dates of delivery to a storage area at the old Willesden Freightliner site. Presumably they will be transporting segments from there to site through the logistics tunnel during tunnel construction?
The production date of the PDF is yesterday, so that edit is new. Of course that tells you nothing about the age of the information in it. If you click on the "button press" icon, it's a live link and takes you to an information sheet that's dated 2024, so not so new. It's also confusing, as it's headed "Tunnel segment deliveries at Willesden Euroterminal site", its file name is about tunnel segment deliveries by road, and it is actually about road movements of segments from Willesden to the Victoria Road Box sites. So, nothing clear there!
I can see an area for storing the things at Willesden, and two at Atlas Road, totalling 628 racks. Each usually holds a pile of seven segments to make one ring. I forget how wide ring is, but it must be about 2 m. So even if you could stack the ring sets two or even three high, I can't see that doing all 14.4 km of tunnel.
Exactly you can only store about 8.7% of the total Euston tunnel rings on those racks hence they are going to be in use for a very long time to come give tunnelling only likely to start next summer.
What does appear to be happening is that the Willesden - OOC eastern end of station box tunnel is being used for lots of drive in logistics compared to craning it in hence the swap to starting tunnelling is likely to coincide with "drive-in" volumes requirements for the subsurface dropping station dropping.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Great drone video showing OOC continuing to make good progress and you can see them hitting the original 2029 milestone.Some of my shots from this week:
20250825_105746 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105749 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105751 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
20250825_105753 by Geogregor*, on Flickr
And fresh aerial shots found on YT:
Snow1964
Established Member
GWR have announced engineering disruption with 2 or 4 tracks closed for works including new station construction on :
Sundays 14 Sept, 21 Sept, 12 Oct, 19 Oct, 26 Oct
Don't think there is a Christmas and New Year closure into Paddington this year, as major works are taking place near Queenstown Road on approaches to Waterloo, so it is advertised as diversion route via Westbury or Reading
www.networkrail.co.uk
Sundays 14 Sept, 21 Sept, 12 Oct, 19 Oct, 26 Oct
Don't think there is a Christmas and New Year closure into Paddington this year, as major works are taking place near Queenstown Road on approaches to Waterloo, so it is advertised as diversion route via Westbury or Reading
Wessex route - Network Rail
The Wessex route covers the major commuter area of south-west London as well as from London Waterloo to the south and south-west of England.
www.networkrail.co.uk
telstarbox
Established Member
So without opening a can of worms, is OOC to Euston going to be built under current contracts to firms?
Snow1964
Established Member
HS2 has issued a general update on working hours and what is happening at each site, more about the surrounding sites than actual station site.
Victoria Box : headhouse construction, utilities, maintenance
Old Oak tunnel : secondary lining (no mention of digging tunnel anymore)
Willesden Euroterminal : storage of tunnel segments
Flat iron : dismantling, maintenance, vehicle holding
Atlas Road tunnel, conveying tunnel segments
Guessing these segments are for Euston tunnels as Old Oak tunnels are tapered and built with sprayed concrete. But segment moves are in current work hours so must be for quietly moving machines forward clear of station.
The areas are shown on the maps on document, along with more details
Victoria Box : headhouse construction, utilities, maintenance
Old Oak tunnel : secondary lining (no mention of digging tunnel anymore)
Willesden Euroterminal : storage of tunnel segments
Flat iron : dismantling, maintenance, vehicle holding
Atlas Road tunnel, conveying tunnel segments
Guessing these segments are for Euston tunnels as Old Oak tunnels are tapered and built with sprayed concrete. But segment moves are in current work hours so must be for quietly moving machines forward clear of station.
The areas are shown on the maps on document, along with more details
Agreed - the logistic tunnel is also getting used for vehicle traffic for the station box fit out hence the need for the long working hours (continuous Monday 0800 - Saturday 1300) to get some tunnel segments in as well as all the fit out traffic (easier than craning all the stuff in...).
Snow1964
Established Member
HS2 has issued a notice about sheet piling on nights in October where the bridge to cross over the Central line will be. Widening of the mainline at western end where it will lead to the 8 surface platforms.
Will be alongside the existing bridge, which had been rebuilt when separate tracks for Central line where added alongside the GWR branch to White City (branch now lifted, so only 2 of 4 tracks now pass underneath). This bridge carried 7 tracks (now 5 tracks with 2 empty trackbeds). 2 additional tracks flanking a toilet pump out were built on Southern side in early 1990s as part of the Eurostar (now Hitachi) depot.
The Central line bridge is just west of Old Oak Common Lane, which is due to be lowered and bridged too.
Will be alongside the existing bridge, which had been rebuilt when separate tracks for Central line where added alongside the GWR branch to White City (branch now lifted, so only 2 of 4 tracks now pass underneath). This bridge carried 7 tracks (now 5 tracks with 2 empty trackbeds). 2 additional tracks flanking a toilet pump out were built on Southern side in early 1990s as part of the Eurostar (now Hitachi) depot.
The Central line bridge is just west of Old Oak Common Lane, which is due to be lowered and bridged too.
Snow1964
Established Member
New HS2 Old Oak newsletter
52 extra site office blocks expected from Monday
phase 1 (until Dec) South portal building initial construction (ventilation, signalling, building)
Phase 2 (Dec - Oct 2026) install precast concrete walls of this building
Mon 27th Oct a third heavy lift crane will be installed.
lots more detail of works on newsletter
52 extra site office blocks expected from Monday
phase 1 (until Dec) South portal building initial construction (ventilation, signalling, building)
Phase 2 (Dec - Oct 2026) install precast concrete walls of this building
Mon 27th Oct a third heavy lift crane will be installed.
lots more detail of works on newsletter
erikvd28
Member
Is it already known when the GWML station will open? 2028 or later
later!
Sorry for a bit of an off-topic, but does the OOC Elizabeth Line station have any concrete future as of today, or is it currently in the same mythical creatures category as Crossrail 2, WL Orbital etc? Is there any chance it will be opened before HS2 station?
The video at the end of #845 has some part built platforms right (north) of the main line, those are for the Elizabeth line.
I suspect the two sites are so strongly tied together that they can't open the mainline station as soon as it looks ready, for health and safety reasons. And unfinished onward transport such as the bus station.
Snow1964
Established Member
The station is supposed to open in phases, various dates have been mentioned at different times, so these might not be correct anymore.
I think it is Elizabeth line platforms built, tracks in place and trains diverted onto them, but trains not stopping late 2026 or 2027
GWR part of station opens 2028 and Elizabeth line start calling.
However the 4th island (westbound fasts) doesn't appear to be completed until late 2028, so possibly fast line services calling are end 2028 or early 2029
Not sure when trains terminating at Paddington from east get extended from Westbourne Park to OOC, might be late 2028 or sometime 2029 (trying to do this one from memory). I think 10 extra trains are due from late 2027 onwards, and I would guess 10-15 months for all to enter service
Some public realm (bits outside the station) seems to run until 2029.
The housing tower blocks near Victoria Road box seem to be 2028-2032
The housing tower blocks near Atlas Road area seem to be 2029-2035
HS2 part of the station, seems to be anytime from 2029 to 2033 or even as late as 2035 (they seem very vague about post reset opening date)
Apologies if I have missed any of the dates, or included an out of date info.
.
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Yes, definitely a concrete future. It will happen.
The dates are all subject to the programme reset.
E6007
Member
Opening of the GWR part of the station is dependent on the significant work to route the tracks through the new station platforms. As I understand it, there are two blockades programmed for Christmas 2026 and Christmas 2028 to achieve this.
The "GWR/Crossrail part" of the station will use the same concourse and exit road as the "HS2 part".
I imagine it might add complexity (and cost?) if access to/through the concourse and exit road were provided for GWR/Crossrail passengers before the "HS2 part" construction is completed? Or has the GWR/Crossrail part opening in advance of the HS2 part been factored into the plans from the start?
I imagine it might add complexity (and cost?) if access to/through the concourse and exit road were provided for GWR/Crossrail passengers before the "HS2 part" construction is completed? Or has the GWR/Crossrail part opening in advance of the HS2 part been factored into the plans from the start?
The current plan for lowering the road surface on Old Oak Lane is for it to take place after all the bridges and tracks are in place, the limitation isn't rail but the utilities under the road (it is a utilities nightmare as it is a significant utilities corridor with old assets).
Hence the station site will be pretty inaccessible until after that is completed, hence not to much point is rushing to open the Crossrail side of things.
Hence the station site will be pretty inaccessible until after that is completed, hence not to much point is rushing to open the Crossrail side of things.
Snow1964
Established Member
HS2 has published plans for the Victoria Box headhouses on 17th October.
Oddly they are dated September 2024 (13 months ago)
www.hs2.org.uk
Oddly they are dated September 2024 (13 months ago)
Victoria Road Crossover Box Headhouse and plant room design presentation slides, September 2024
Access HS2 Ltd’s official documents, reports, policies and plans—comprehensive resources on the progress, delivery and governance of Britain’s high-speed railway.
www.hs2.org.uk
GraphitProjekt
Member
There's meant to be an ATS traction substation at Victoria Road - I suppose that's going to be within the "plant room".
No, it's a smaller separate enclosure: see this page and the PDF linked to from it.
Snow1964
Established Member
HS2 is having a drop in event 5th November 5-8pm (strange they picked bonfire night) regarding train crew and catering building at Old Oak Common.
Details also available under planning application 23/0160/HS2OPDC
www.hs2.org.uk
Details also available under planning application 23/0160/HS2OPDC
Train Crew and Catering Building and Ancillary Works Schedule 17 Plans Update
You’re invited to a public drop-in event at the Old Oak Common Station site on Wednesday 5 November to find out about updates to our plans for the new building. This will provide temporary respite accommodation and catering for train crews once Old Oak Common Station is complete and in operation...
www.hs2.org.uk