High Speed Two Ltd - Articles and news items

Southampton appoints visiting professors in railway research

Rail industry news / 8 March 2011 /

The University of Southampton is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Visiting Professors, to strengthen its capabilities and industrial links in the field of railway track research.

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Mott MacDonald is engineering advisor for high speed line – Birmingham to Manchester, UK

Rail industry news / 19 October 2010 /

Mott MacDonald has been appointed by High Speed Two Ltd to undertake professional engineering services to support the development of the potential route of a new high speed railway line between Birmingham and Manchester. Scott Wilson and Grimshaw are supporting Mott MacDonald in the delivery of engineering, railway operations and architectural studies.

High Speed Two Limited (HS2 Ltd) is the company set up by the UK Government to consider the case for new high speed rail services between London and Scotland. The Government has asked HS2 Ltd to report at the end of 2011 on the comparative case for different ways of connecting the West-Midlands with Manchester. This work will inform the Government’s overall strategy and timetable for establishing a high speed rail network.

The Mott MacDonald team will develop options for line of route corridors, station approaches and city centre and parkway stations as well as connections to the classic network. In addition to engineering and architectural design and feasibility, capacity and journey time modeling will be undertaken to inform the HS2 Ltd business case work. Infrastructure and rolling stock maintenance depot facilities will also be considered.

Tony Walker, Mott MacDonald’s project manager said, “We are delighted to be awarded this project which is a great opportunity to be a part of the development of high speed rail in the UK. It provides our younger engineers the experience they will need to get the maximum advantage to develop the skills they and the UK will need to deliver high speed rail in the future.”

The case for high-speed rail – Britain’s 21st century travel solution

Issue 4 2010 / 4 August 2010 /

In Britain, about once a century for the last few hundred years a new long-distance surface transport system has been planned and built to meet the developing needs of a continually advancing society. The 18th century brought the canals and the 19th the railways, both initially more focussed on transporting freight to support the industrial revolution and the development of our cities. Of course, the 20th century brought the trunk motorway network which transformed personal travel. As we get well into the 21st century, we have been considering what is needed to promote the economic and environmental health of this country for the next 100 years. (more…)

Prof. Andrew McNaughton, Chief Engineer, High Speed Two Ltd

Editorial board / 16 December 2009 /

Andrew McNaughton is Chief Engineer of High Speed Two Ltd, and Special Professor of Rail Engineering at Nottingham University. He has been engaged in railway engineering and management since 1973. His first twenty years in British Rail were engaged in maintenance, renewal and upgrade of both main line and rural railways, including leading the introduction of steel sleeper relaying and development of new maintenance techniques.

In 1993 he was appointed Head of Production and then subsequently Director, Great Western for Railtrack. In 2001 he became Chief Engineer, tasked with creating, for Network Rail, an engineering function which includes all rail system disciplines including human performance.

Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineers, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Past President of the Permanent Way Institution. In Europe he is Vice Chairman of the Transport Advisory Group to the EU Commission; he is Chairman of the International Railway Union (UIC) Infrastructure Forum and the Chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Council.