High Speed 1

High Speed One / CTRL

West Coast Main Line Midland Main Line 0 km London St Pancras North London Line Thameslink 2000 tunnels East Coast Main Line London west tunnel 7.5 km Temple Mills Eurostar Depot (single track) 9 km Stratford International Temple Mills Line 10 km London east tunnel 10 km 21 km Ripple Lane freight connection Rainham viaduct 0.5 km 27 km Aveley viaduct 1 km 30 km Thurrock viaduct (A282) (1.2 km) 32 km River Thames tunnel (2.5 km) 37 km Ebbsfleet International North Kent Line Phase 1 - Phase 2 boundary 39 km Fawkham Junction link line to Chatham Main Line for London Waterloo 50km Medway Viaduct (1.2km) over Chatham Main Line over Medway Valley Line over River Medway 54 km North Downs Tunnel (3.2 km) 88 km Ashford cut and cover tunnel (1.5 km) Maidstone East Line South Eastern Main Line 89 km 90 km Ashford International Marshlink Line Ashford CTRL-DS Depot (Hitachi) Ashford to Ramsgate 91 km Ashford Flyover (1.5 km) South Eastern Main Line 106 km Dollands Moor Freight terminal M20 108 km CTRL/Eurotunnel boundary Cheriton Shuttle Terminal (Folkestone) 109 km Channel Tunnel to LGV Nord

A Eurostar train on the CTRL, near Ashford

A Eurostar train near Strood

Eurostar train at St Pancras having just arrived from Brussels-South

High Speed 1 (HS1), officially known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a 108 km (67 mile) high-speed railway line running from London through Kent to the British end of the Channel Tunnel.

The second and final section of the line, travelling across the River Thames and into London St Pancras, opened on 14 November 2007.^[1] Built at a cost of £5.2bn, the new link has cut pre-2003 Eurostar journey times by 40 minutes. It is now possible to travel from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes and to Brussels South in 1 hour 51 minutes.^[2]

In addition to the international Eurostar services, the route will be used for high-speed "CTRL-DS" domestic commuter services operated with Class 395 trains. Commuter services on High Speed 1 are scheduled to start in December 2009, between Ashford International in Kent and London St Pancras—with a journey time of 37 minutes. There are intermediate stations at Ebbsfleet and Stratford. The new fleet of 29 trains will be able reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour (140 mph).

Legal background

The construction of the line was authorised by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 ^[3] which was amended by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Act 2008.^[4]

On 14 November 2006, London and Continental Railways adopted the brand name High Speed 1 for the completed railway. Official legislation, documentation and line-side signage has continued to refer to "CTRL".

Route

All CTRL connections are fully grade-separate. This is achieved through use of viaducts, bridges, cuttings and in one case, the tunnel portal itself.

• Temple Mills Depot: At Stratford International, there is an additional line in the centre of the station accessible from the St. Pancras end only. This single-track line passes through the centre of the station, then rises up an incline across the south-bound "down" lines within the main Stratford International "box" before continuing in a tunnel until parallel with the Temple Mills Line where the line enters the depot.
• Ripple Lane Freight Connection: This occurs immediately before the entrance to the London Tunnels, allowing the "up" and "down" freight connections to meet on top of the tunnel portal.
• The 4 km (2.4 mile) Waterloo Connection leaves the CTRL at Southfleet Junction using a grade-separated junction; the main CTRL tracks continue uninterrupted through to CTRL Section 2 underneath the southbound flyover. The connection joins the Chatham Main Line at Fawkham Junction with a flat crossing.
• Ashford International: Normally at LGV stations, the through tracks are in the centre. At Ashford the station is off to one side of the LGV route. The CTRL approaches Ashford International from the north in a cut-and-cover "box"; the south-bound line rises out of this cutting and crosses over the main tracks to enter the station. The main CTRL tracks then rise out of the cutting and over a flyover. On leaving Ashford, southbound Eurostars return to the CTRL by travelling under this flyover and joining from the outside. The international platforms at Ashford are supplied with both 25 kV and 3rd rail, avoiding the need to switch power-supplies.
• At Dollands Moor, the CTRL "up" and "down" lines divide with one going each side of the freight terminal and meet up again beyond the terminal. The connections to the freight terminal therefore join and leave from the centre of the main tracks at both ends of the complex.

Background

A high-speed rail line, LGV Nord, has been in operation between the Channel Tunnel and the outskirts of Paris since the Tunnel's opening in 1994. This has enabled Eurostar rail services to travel at 300 km/h (186 mph) for this part of their journey. A similar high-speed line from the French border to Brussels, HSL 1, opened in 1997. However, in Britain Eurostar trains had to run at much lower speeds on existing tracks between London and the Channel Tunnel. These tracks were shared with local traffic, limiting the number of services that could be run, as well as their timings. The elderly nature of some of this rail infrastructure caused a disproportionate number of delays, reducing the appeal of the Eurostar service.

The original plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link involved a tunnel reaching London from the south-east, and an underground terminus in the vicinity of Kings Cross station. However a late change in the plans, principally driven by the then deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine's desire for urban regeneration in East London, led to a change of route, with the new line approaching London from the east. This opened the possibility of reusing the underused St Pancras station as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station.^[5]

The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then transport secretary, John MacGregor, as difficult to construct and environmentally damaging. However the idea of using St Pancras station as the core of the new terminus was retained, albeit now linked by 20 km (12 miles) of specially built tunnels to Dagenham via Stratford.^[5]

London and Continental Railways (LCR) was selected by the UK government in 1996 to undertake construction of the line, as well as the reconstruction of St Pancras station as its terminus, and to take over the British share of the Eurostar operation, Eurostar (UK). The original LCR consortium members were National Express Group, Virgin Group, S. G. Warburg & Co, Bechtel and London Electric. Whilst the project was under development by British Rail it was managed by Union Railways, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of LCR.

Originally, the whole route was to be constructed as a single project. However, in 1998 it ran into serious financial difficulties and with its future looking uncertain the project was split into two separate phases, to be managed by Union Railways (South) and Union Railways (North). A recovery programme was agreed whereby LCR sold government-backed bonds worth £1.6bn to pay for the construction of section 1, with the future of section 2 still looking in doubt. The original intention had been for the new railway, once completed, to be run by Union Railways as a separate line to the rest of the British railway network. However as part of the 1998 rescue plan it was agreed that, following completion, section 1 would be purchased by Railtrack, along with an option to purchase section 2. In return, Railtrack was committed to operate the whole route as well as St Pancras railway station which, unlike all other former British Rail stations, was transferred to LCR/Union Railways in 1996.

In 2001, Railtrack announced that, due to its own financial problems, it would not undertake to purchase section 2 once it was completed. This triggered a second restructuring. The 2002 plan agreed that the two sections would have different infrastructure owners (Railtrack for section 1, LCR for section 2) but with common management by Railtrack. Following yet further financial problems at Railtrack its interest in the CTRL was sold back to LCR who then sold the operating rights for the completed line to Network Rail, Railtrack's successor. Under this arrangement LCR will become the sole owner of both sections of the CTRL and the St Pancras property, as per the original 1996 plan.

As a consequence of the project's restructuring the LCR consortium is, as of 2006^[update], construction firms Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra (who form Rail Link Engineering (RLE)), transport operators National Express Group and SNCF (who operate the Eurostar (UK) share of the Eurostar service with the National Railway Company of Belgium and British Airways), electricity company EDF and UBS Investment Bank. On completion of section 1 by RLE, the line was handed over to Union Railways (South), who then handed it over to London & Continental Stations and Property (LCSP) who are the long term owners of the line. Once section 2 of the line had been completed it was handed over to Union Railways (North) who handed it over to LCSP. Management, operation and maintenance of the entire line, including St Pancras, is undertaken by Network Rail.

In February 2006 there were strong rumours that a 'third party' (believed to be a consortium headed by banker Sir Adrian Montague) had expressed an interest in buying out the present partners in the project.^[6] LCR shareholders subsequently rejected the proposal,^[7] and the Government, who effectively could overule shareholders' decisions as a result of LCR's reclassification as a state-owned body,^[8] decided that discussions with shareholders would not take place imminently, effectively backing shareholders' views on the proposed takeover.^[7]

The project

Model showing the current redevelopment of the King's Cross area with the new extension to the barrel-vaulted St Pancras Station on the left

The legal framework for the new railway line lies in the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 providing construction powers that ran for the following 10 years. Amendments were made in 2001 for the new station at Stratford International and through connections to the West-Coast Main Line.

Section 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, opened on 28 September 2003, is a 74 km (46 mile) section of high-speed track from the Channel Tunnel to Fawkham Junction in north Kent. The section's completion cut the London–Paris journey time by around 21 minutes, to 2h 35mn. The line includes the Medway Viaduct, a 1.2 km (¾ mile) bridge over the River Medway and the North Downs Tunnel, a 3.2 km (2 mile) long, 12 m (40 ft) diameter tunnel. In safety testing on the section prior to opening, a new UK rail speed record of 334.7 km/h (208.0 mph) was set.^[9] Much of the new high-speed line runs alongside the M2 and M20 motorways through Kent. After completion, Eurostar trains continued to use suburban lines to enter London, arriving at Waterloo International.

Section 2 of the project opened on 14 November 2007 and is a 39.4 km (24 mile) stretch of track from the newly built Ebbsfleet station in Kent to London St Pancras. Completion of the section cut journey times by a further 20 minutes (London–Paris in 2h 15m; London–Brussels in 1h 51m). The route starts with a 2.5 km (1.5 mile) tunnel which dives under the Thames near Dartford, then runs alongside the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway as far as Dagenham, where it enters a 19 km (12 mile) tunnel (), before emerging over the East Coast Main Line near St Pancras. The tunnel is interrupted by the new Stratford International railway station where a 1 km stretch runs close to the surface, dividing the tunnel into London East and London West sections. Stratford International will serve the main site for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The new depot at Temple Mills, to the north of Stratford, replaces the North Pole depot in the west of London. In testing, the first Eurostar train ran into St Pancras on 6 March 2007.^[10] Since the November 2007 opening of the section, all Eurostar trains run to St Pancras, and the Waterloo Terminal closed.

Engineering notes

The CTRL connection at St. Pancras Station in April 2007

• The CTRL project was one of the United Kingdom's largest civil engineering projects, encompassing many new bridges and combined tunnels nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself.

• Track and signalling technology (TVM-430 + KVB) are the same as those used on the French LGV Nord high-speed line. The areas around St. Pancras and Gare du Nord use KVB signalling with the whole of the high-speed route to Paris (CTRL, Channel Tunnel, LGV Nord) using TVM-430. Signalling tests before opening were performed by the SNCF-owned "Lucie" test car.^[11]

• The twin tunnels bored under London were driven from Stratford westwards towards St Pancras, eastwards towards Dagenham and from Dagenham westwards to connect with the tunnel from Stratford. The tunnel boring machines were 120 m long and weighed 1,100 tonnes. The depth of the tunnel varies from 24 m to 50 m.

• A complex junction has been constructed north of St Pancras with connections to the East Coast Main Line, North London Line (for West Coast Main Line) and Midland Main Line. As part of the works, tunnels connecting the East Coast Main Line to the Thameslink route were also built.

• At St. Pancras station, the new extension has doubled the length of the central platforms now used for Eurostar services. New platforms have been provided for existing domestic East Midlands Trains and future Southeastern high-speed services that will run along High Speed 1 to Kent. New platforms on the Thameslink line across London were built beneath the western margins of the station and the existing station at King's Cross Thameslink was closed.

The construction works were complex and a large number of contractors have been involved in delivering them.^[12]

Additional information

CTRL North Downs Tunnel, country portal under Blue Bell Hill

After local protests, early plans were modified to put much more of the track into tunnel up until a point approximately 1-mile (2 km) from St. Pancras. For example, the Link now passes underneath in a tunnel, rather than alongside, the North London Line on approach into St. Pancras. Previously, an elevated section had been expected. The CTRL Section 2 construction works have been causing considerable disruption around the Kings Cross area of London, but are bringing in their wake much redevelopment. The huge redevelopment area includes the run-down areas of post-industrial and ex-railway land close to King's Cross and St Pancras, a conservation area with many listed buildings.

In 2002 the CTRL project was awarded the "Major Project Award" at the British Construction Industry Awards.

Section 2 of the rail link was a factor in London's successful 2012 Olympic Bid, promising a seven-minute journey time from Stratford to St. Pancras to be operated as Olympic Javelin by Southeastern.

As far as can be ascertained there were four deaths of employees working on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link over the nine year and one month period of construction. The first death occurred on Friday 28 March 2003 near Westernhanger, Folkestone where a worker came into contact with the energised power supply.[1] The second death occurred in May 2003 when a scaffolder fell seven metres at Thurrock, Essex.[2] This death resulted in three companies being found guilty of breaching health and safety legislation [presumably s.2 Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974], omitting to provide barriers, which resulted in Deverson Direct Ltd of Stickfast Lane, Bobbing, Sittingbourne, Kent being ordered to pay £50,000 in fines and £5,851 costs; J Murphy and Sons Ltd of Highgate Road, London being ordered to pay £25,000 and costs of £2,925.50 and Hochtief Akteingesellschaft of Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way, Swindon being ordered to pay £25,000 and costs of £2,925.50. The final two deaths relate to a fire onboard a train carrying wires, one mile inside a tunnel under the Thames between Swanscombe, Kent, and Thurrock, Essex on Tuesday 16 August 2005. The train shunter died at the scene [3] and the train driver later passed away in hospital on 20 August 2005.[4] This represents a low number of worker deaths during the construction of a major railway line in Britain, reflecting the emphasis placed by the construction consortium on worker health and safety.

On 4 September 2007, a train travelled from Paris Gare du Nord to St. Pancras in 2 hours 3 minutes and 39 seconds.^[13]

On 19 September 2007, a train travelled from Brussels South to St. Pancras in 1 hour 43 minutes.^[14]

See also

• Megaproject
• Rail transport in the United Kingdom
• Eurostar
• Regional Eurostar
• Transport in London
• UK Ultraspeed
• High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
• Southeastern 2009 Domestic services

References

External links

• Highspeed 1 Website
• Eurostar Website
• Southeastern in 2009 Website
• Southeastern Website
• Eurotunnel Website
• Rail Link Engineering (Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra) Website
• London and Continental Railways Website (requires Flash)
• Trade article
• Guardian Unlimited Interactive Guide to the CTRL (requires Flash)
• Jonathan Glancey, The Guardian, May 27, 2005, "Tunnel vision"
• Rail enthusiast's site
• Eurostar's YouTube video of record-breaking Paris-London run

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