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Building Britain's first main-line railway for over a century—and one carrying trains at an unprecedented 300 km/h—required a completely new set of design standards for railway systems. This paper describes the signalling, trackwork and diverse range of other mechanical and electrical systems which, together with the rolling stock, make the tunnels, earthworks and structures of the second section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now renamed High Speed 1—into a transport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ebbsfleet International station on section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail link—now known as High Speed 1—in Kent is a new, high-tech gateway station that opens up major travel opportunities for people living in a wide arc east of London. It is also the first tangible piece of infrastructure in one of the UK's most ambitious and large-scale regeneration projects, the Thames Gateway. This paper describes the design and construction of the station and associated 16 km of rail track, structures and parking for 9000 cars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 12 km north Thames stretch of section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now known as High Speed 1—involved constructing a high-speed railway formation across marshlands next to the Thames, alongside operating railways and crossing major roads. This paper describes the design and construction of the 12 km section which links the Thames tunnel to the London tunnels. The work included the push-launch of a 1 km long viaduct at Thurrock, which threads its way under and over the M25 bridge and tunnel crossings of the Thames respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety has been at the heart of the design of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project—now know as High Speed 1—but perhaps nowhere more so than in the complex section 2 of the route, more than half of which is in tunnel. This paper describes how the design and layout of the 39 km second section was heavily influenced by safety considerations, particularly the design and spacing of the cross-passages between running tunnels, the tunnel ventilation systems and the emergency response procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]