The new tunnel will be the first infrastructure to be built across the Thames since 1991, increasing public transport provision sixfold upon its commissioning. The project, which is being undertaken by London’s public transport authority Transport for London (TfL), is the largest road investment in this area of the city in the last 30 years. It includes the design and construction of 1.4 kilometres twin bored tunnels under the River Thames, which, together with the cut-and-cover tunnels at both ends, add up to a total tunnel length of 2 kilometres. The design also includes the necessary road works and junctions for tunnel access. With a budget of more than one billion pounds, the project has been awarded to the RiverLinx consortium, which is responsible for its design, execution, financing, operation and maintenance. RiverLinx is made up of Spanish operator Cintra, construction companies Ferrovial-Agroman and BAM Nuttal, engineering firms SK E&C, designers Ayesa, Arup, Cowi and financiers Aberdeen Standard Investment and Macquarie Capital. 

General layout of the route of the tunnel under the River Thames.

In turn, RiverLinx has contracted Ineco/RPS joint venture as an Independent Certifier throughout the design and construction process. As such, Ineco is participating in the construction of the tunnel, bringing its extensive experience in the supervision of particularly complex tunnels. The contract is being executed through a joint venture with the company RPS, in which Ineco has a 57% shareholding. Both companies will provide support as an Independent Certifier until the commissioning of the new tunnel. The design phase started in 2020, with work scheduled for completion in 2025. 

 Less traffic jams, better connections

Currently, the only means of crossing the Thames in this area of the city is the Blackwall Tunnel, which has been in service for over 120 years, with very high levels of congestion (over 48,000 vehicles per day in each direction) and gauge limitations. It is estimated that more than one million hours of congestion are generated each year due to tunnel capacity constraints, with an economic impact of 10 million pounds each year. 

Ineco is contributing its experience in the supervision of particularly complex tunnels

The new tunnel will be the first road crossing under the River Thames since the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge opened on the outskirts of London more than 30 years ago. It is estimated that the tunnel’s area of influence will see an increase in population of 650,000 people and the creation of 286,000 new jobs by 2036. Once operational, it will enable a six-fold increase in public transport capacity in this area of London. Today, due to the limitations of the tunnels, there is only one bus service that allows crossing between the two eastern neighbourhoods of the city. The new tunnel will have one bus lane in each direction, allowing an increase to 37 bus services per hour. All services will also be operated with zero-emission vehicles. 

TfL estimates that improving congestion in and around Blackwall will significantly reduce journey times. Studies predict that, without the Silvertown Tunnel, both traffic and emissions from congestion in the Blackwall Tunnel would increase in the coming years, such that morning rush hour delays in east and south-east London could increase by more than 20% on average. The new infrastructure will help to improve air quality in this area of the city by reducing congestion and increasing the flow of public transport, as well as making connections north and south of the river more resilient.

Description of the works

In addition to the tunnels, the works include the design of the accesses and the roads connecting them to the existing network, which are largely developed using open cut and cut-and-cover techniques by means of  slurry walls, sheet piling, micropiles and in-situ walls.

The tunnel is made up of two tubes built with an EPB TBM (Tunelling Boring Machine) of 12 m in diameter to accommodate a cross section with two unidirectional lanes of 3.50 m for each tube, with one of the lanes being exclusively for the circulation of buses, including double-deckers, and freight transport. 

The tunnel boring machine was manufactured in Germany by Herrenknecht. It is approximately 82 m long, weighs around 1,800 tonnes and will have a cutting surface of almost 12 m. 

The new tunnel will be the first road crossing under the River Thames for more than 30 years

Following the execution schedule, the tunnel boring machine will start boring the first tube (southbounds) from Silvertown, where the launch chamber is located, turn around in North Greenwich at the rotation chamber and continue boring the second tube back to Silvertown to the extraction shaft. The infrastructure will include seven cross passages connecting the tubes at 150 m spacing.

Overall, the construction team will manage a total excavation of 600,000 m³ and 100% of the extracted material will be transported by river, minimising the impact of construction traffic on neighbouring communities and roads.

The project also incorporates maintenance buildings and road works and surface links, including an overbridge and a pedestrian and cycling bridge. The works are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025 and will be located within the ultra-low emission zone.

Ineco was involved in the assessment of the integration of the Birmingham to Leeds eastern leg of HS2 with other rail projects in the region, carried out by the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) at the request of the Government. The report for that assessment concluded that investments in the North and the Midlands should be given higher priority since they offer significant improvements in capacity, connectivity and reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from the mid-2030s.

Having commissioned an independent review of the entire high-speed rail project, in February 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the need for, and the importance of, HS2 as the new ‘backbone’ of the country’s transport network, while at the same time announcing a new rail plan for the North and the Midlands.

Meanwhile, in September, work officially started on Phase 1, which is expected to generate 22,000 jobs in the United Kingdom over the coming years.

Ineco has been working with AECOM and Capita on the preliminary design of the civil works and environmental impact studies for Lot 2 of Phase 2B of the Birmingham-Leeds leg since 2017. In 2012, Ineco started work with Capita on Phase 1, London to Birmingham.

Cintra, the Spanish company that, as part of the RiverLinx consortium, has been selected by Transport for London (TfL) to manage the Silvertown Tunnel, has contracted the Ineco and RPS consortium as an independent certifier throughout the design and construction process. The new tunnel will be the first piece of infrastructure to be built to cross the Thames since 1991, and will increase the transport supply in this area of the river sixfold.

RiverLinx, formed by Aberdeen Standard, BAM PPP, Cintra, Macquarie Capital and SK E&C will manage the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the tunnel. The £1 billion contract includes the design of two 1.4 kilometre long twin road tunnels under the Thames and 0.6 kilometres of access ramps.

WSP, responsible for the design of the new Old Oak Common HS2 high-speed station, has commissioned Ineco to audit and supervise pedestrian movement modelling of its future users. The station, located in northwest London, will begin operations in 2026 and is expected to handle an estimated traffic of 250,000 commuters every day.

Network Rail, the public body that manages the HS1 (High Speed 1) line, which runs from St. Pancras station in London to the Channel Tunnel, has engaged Ineco to update the track maintenance procedures and implement specific regulations to ensure adequate upkeep of the infrastructure, which has been in operation for a decade.

The Spanish public engineering company has been awarded a new contract for the high-speed line (HS2) that will link London with Manchester and Leeds. Ineco, together with US-based Aecom and British company Capita, will be responsible for the preliminary design of civil works and environmental impact studies for Lot 2, a section of Phase 2B of the project (Crewe-Manchester and Birmingham-Leeds). This work will be carried out in a section that is approximately 90 kilometres long, from the access to Leeds and extending to the Phase-1 connection that ends at Birmingham, all the way to the south of Sheffield. The UK government has been revealing details of the second phase of the HS2 project after a period of negotiations and consultations with the public through its official website, where it provides step-by-step reports on all the projects and decisions taken.

The new route will link Birmingham with Manchester and Leeds via two Y-shaped branches: one heads northwest towards Manchester with two stations planned at Manchester Airport and Manchester Picadilly; and the other branch heads northeast towards Leeds via the East Midlands and a spur off the mainline to serve Sheffield. It is estimated that this new phase will generate between 48,700 and 70,300 jobs, as well as the construction of 5,200 to 7,600 homes. The rail operations of Phase 2 of HS2 will begin by 2033, although the government plans to advance the West Midlands-Crewe section (Phase 2A) by a few years to 2027 “so that the North and Scotland feel the benefits that the high-speed rail will bring to the people and populations”.

Under this agreement, the company has consolidated its presence in the United Kingdom, where it has collaborated in Phase 1 of HS2, between London and Birmingham, since 2012, participating in the preliminary design of a section together with the British company Capita. The first phase, 225 kilometres long, is expected to start operating in the 2026. HS2 will have a high-speed network equipped with state-of-the-art technology: trains up to 400 metres long, carrying a thousand passengers, and travelling at speeds close to 360 km/h, transporting thousands of residents of the North, Midlands and South of the United Kingdom with fast travel times, smart ticketing systems and other optimum levels of comfort. In total, it is expected that 14 trains per hour will run in each direction.

The line will feature the new East Midlands Hub stations, in Toton, and Sheffield Meadowhall

Consult the interactive map http://interactive-map.hs2.org.uk/ for updated information on the line and stations.

A 90-kilometre route
full of history

The route of the future HS2 high-speed train continues northwards, connecting the central and eastern regions of England to London in less than two hours.  It will also connect towns with a rich medieval past and an important industrial legacy. Landscape, cultural heritage, biodiversity, water, noise and vibration, and waste are key aspects in defining the project, together with the quality of life of its inhabitants.

The line from West Midlands-Birmingham to Leeds, the right-hand side of the Y, runs through the wooded regions of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, lands with towns founded in the Late Middle Ages that have managed to adapt to the changing times through knowledge and technology. The preliminary design of the civil works and environmental impact studies must include each and every one of the elements of the overwhelming natural, geographical, and cultural heritage contained in the fields and cities, while ensuring the quality of life of the inhabitants. As in other regions of the United Kingdom, both regions have extensive public transport networks to serve the large population that resides in large metropolitan areas on the outskirts of the cities. Here we present some of the cities that will be served by this section of high-speed HS2 in which Ineco is participating.

Birmingham

Birmingham. / PHOTO_NEIL HOWARD (FLICKR)

The West Midlands is home to around 2.5 million people, half of whom live in Birmingham, the UK’s second most populous city after London. It played a decisive role in the industrial revolution, a time from which it still maintains 56 kilometres of canals, even more than Venice. It was bombed in World War II, and after years of decline, surprised the world with a well-designed urban renewal including examples of avant-garde architecture. It has bus, metro, tram and minibus services adapted to provide accessibility to people with reduced mobility using the latest technologies. The international airport is 16 kilometres away by highway and expressway, and has its own train station –Birmingham International Station– with frequent service to the central station, Birmingham New Street. Musical tradition, gastronomy, sporting events, multi-ethnic culture and commerce, as well as its legendary universities, are all part of its current identity.

Birmingham is the second most populated city in the United Kingdom after London

From Curzon Street station you can take the HS2 trains to the south, –arriving in London in just 49 minutes– to the northwest, to Manchester, or to the northeast towards Sheffield and Leeds.

Nottingham

Nottingham. / PHOTO_ADAM CLARKE (FLICKR)

Nottingham was also highly prominent during the industrial revolution, particularly in the production of lace, and it still conserves many beautiful large industrial buildings from that period, along with a commercial tradition that attracted many international brands almost as renowned as the Sheriff of Nottingham (such as the Boots laboratory and Raleigh bikes). With more than 300,000 inhabitants and 650,000 in the suburbs and metropolitan areas, it is well connected, including the East Midlands International Airport, highways, trains and trams and a car rental service managed by the city. The largest bus service is owned by Nottingham City Transport (NCT), which has 330 vehicles, 67 routes and transported 50 million passengers in 2015. NCT has been recognized on multiple occasions as the UK’s best bus operator (Route One Large Operator of the Year 2016). Nottingham Castle, the huge market square (Old Marquet Square) and nearby Sherwood Forest, home to Robin Hood and the famous 800 year-old Major Oak, along with Southwell Minster Cathedral, are some of its tourist attractions.

Nottingham will be approximately 10 kilometres by highway and 12.4 kilometres by expressway from the future high-speed East Midlands hub station in Toton, where the high-speed rail section will connect to the entire region.

Derby

Derby. / PHOTO_ALAN FEEBERY (FLICKR)

With some 200,000 inhabitants, Derby has a good rail connection that it inherited from its important industrial role in Victorian times. Its central station, Derby Station, began operating in 1840 in a Victorian building with an imposing façade, with only the old clock remaining today. Formerly the largest railway station in England, it retains good north-south connections and adjoining towns. For its part, Derby shares the East Midlands airport, which is 23 kilometres away by highway, with the metropolitan areas of Leicester and Nottingham. Its monumental past is undoubtedly one of its greatest attractions, reflected in cathedrals, churches and palaces, as well as spectacular gardens such as the Derby Arboretum –England’s first public park– Kedleston Hall Garden and Elvaston Castle Country Park, both next to mansions located on the outskirts of the city.

Derby will be 17 kilometres away from Toton’s future high-speed station, the new East Midlands Hub, by the A52 highway.

Sheffield

Sheffield. / PHOTO_ROB (FLICKR)

Bathed by the River Sheaf, Sheffield is part of the county of South Yorkshire and proudly bills itself as a green city due to its many trees. With more than half a million inhabitants, it also stands out for its student atmosphere, with two large universities that attract more than 50,000 young people per year from around the world, and good sports facilities, the result of a long tradition in sports such as football and cricket. Sheffield is also privileged to be within walking distance of the Peak District; the gardens and the luxurious 18th-century Chatsworth Palace; and in the city centre, an immense botanical garden with its remarkable Victorian glass pavilions. The nearest airport –Doncaster Sheffield, originally built for the military– is located 29 kilometres from the city and saw its first commercial flight in April 2005 to Palma de Mallorca. The city, accessible on foot, has three tram lines and several buses. It is connected by train and highway.

Sheffield, further north, has more than half a million inhabitants

The inhabitants will be biggest beneficiaries of the north-south connections provided by the high-speed railway line, which is expected to be connected to a station within the city in around 2033.

Award for Ineco’s design of the ‘HS2 Birmingham Delta Junction’

In 2014, Ineco received an award for its work in designing the ‘HS2 Birmingham Delta Junction’. Located 14 kilometres from Birmingham, this junction provided the challenge of a wide range of structures and highly complex sections, with the main line coexisting alongside the Birmingham inbound and outbound lines and the connection to Leeds. The work corresponds to Phase 1 of the project, in the Country North Section, a 75-kilometre section with two tracks designed for a top speed of 400 km/h. The award was presented by the Be Inspired Awards 2013 of Bentley Systems in the category Innovation in Rail and Transit. International recognition of this excellent project carried out by the company’s railway experts.

Ineco and Capita are carrying out a study on behalf of London Luton Airport Operation Limited (LLAOL), in which Aena International is the major shareholder, on the different alternatives for a rail connection to Luton Airport, located 56 kilometres outside of London. In response to growth forecasts, the managers of this airport have proposed different alternatives for introducing a train station to the airport terminal.

London Luton Parkway Station is currently located about 1.5 km from the airport terminal, meaning that this last leg of the journey must be made by bus. A new direct line straight from the Luton terminal would reduce the journey time to central London from 45 minutes down to just 25.

The project involves studying the different alternatives for a rail connection to the future airport terminal, including the preliminary design, cost analyses and the necessary timeline.

During the first six months of 2015, 5.7 million passengers travelled through London Luton Airport; it is London’s fourth largest airport in terms of passenger traffic. Airport traffic has steadily increased over the past year, thus the decision to take on renovation work in order to increase airport capacity.