Porr awarded Vossloh a ‘significant’ contract for the supply of HS2 rail fastening systems for the slab track on the line between London and Birmingham for the end customer HS2 Ltd, the developer and future operator of the British high-speed railway.
The order has a volume of over EUR 30 million and covers the period from 2025 to 2027.
“With our technically high-quality system solution, we ensure that the high requirements for safety, reliability and durability are met on the demanding high-speed line,” Oliver Schuster, CEO of Vossloh AG, said.
HS2 is one of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects and will be the second high-speed line in the UK after High Speed 1 (HS1), the link between London and the Channel Tunnel. In future, speeds of up to 360 km/h will be possible on the line, while freeing up space on the existing mainline for more freight and local services. The travel time between the two cities will be almost halved from 82 to 45 minutes.
The line is expected to be completed around 2033. This project marks a milestone in the modernization of the British transport infrastructure and offers significant added value for the economy and society.
Porr has been entrusted to provide professional services such as consulting on and design of precast slab track, for its patented Slab Track Austria technology. In 2020, Porr won a EUR 286 million contract to supply 453 km of its slab track technology.
With the delivery of slab track for HS2, Porr continues to advance its technology for an operating speed of 360 km/h. Delivering HS2 rail fastening systems will help with the construction of the high-speed line.
Production and supply of precast concrete track slabs for the construction of 338 km on earthworks as well as viaducts for Phase 1 and 115 km for Phase 2a were further parts of the awarded contract.
The new Y-shaped high-speed railway will connect London and Birmingham in Phase 1. In the Phase 2, the line was designed to continue from Birmingham to Manchester in the West, and from Birmingham to Leeds in the East. Part of the Western Leg is Phase 2a which connecting Birmingham to Crewe. But in October 2023, the government announced significant changes to the HS2 programme, including the cancellation of Phase 2 of the railway from the West Midlands to Manchester, and a smaller HS2 station in London Euston. Cancellation has been considered to save costs worth GBP 36 billion (EUR 41.6 billion).
One year later the first budget of the Labour government included a funding commitment for two single bore tunnels which bring the line in the central London. The previous government has discontinued the tunneling work on the final 13 km connecting the Old Oak Common (in West London) to Euston (in London central area).
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