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The second and final section of the £5.8 billion Channel Tunnel Rail Link project— now renamed High Speed 1—opens for business this month (14 November 2007). The 109 km long, 300 km/h railway cuts the London-Paris trip to a competitive 2 h 15 mins. It also means Britain is now directly connected to Europe's growing high-speed rail network, which currently extends to 3750 km. This paper introduces the 11 other papers in this special issue of Civil Engineering on the procurement, design, construction and regeneration benefits of the challenging, 39 km, section 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the procurement and contracting strategies adopted for the majority of section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, now renamed High Speed 1, plus Eurostar's new depot at Temple Mills and the fit-out works at Stratford and Ebbsfleet international stations. The paper demonstrates that the successful delivery of the project started with adopting the most appropriate contracting strategy commensurate with the level of design development completed at the time of tender, and the client's attitude to risk. Various options of the NEC Engineering and Construction Contract were used throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now known as High Speed 1—included the construction of a new station for the existing Thameslink rail service under St Pancras International station. This paper describes the construction of the Thameslink box on the route of the existing tunnel along with a direct passenger interchange with the new international station. Two new tunnels were also constructed forming a potential connection to the existing East Coast main-line route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last stop before London on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now called High Speed 1—is Stratford International in the heart of the London 2012 Olympic park. This paper describes the design and construction of the station box, a 1 km long, and up to 55m wide and 26 m deep, open concrete structure. It initially served as the construction and portal site for four of the London tunnel drives on section 2 and now provides the location for the Stratford International station and major track junctions. Excavated material from both the tunnels and the box has been used to regenerate the old railway freight yards into a site for a major new development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now known as High Speed 1—emerges from tunnels at the north-east corner of King's Cross lands in London and then sweeps across into St Pancras station at the south west. This paper reports on the major rail network that has been constructed in 'area 100' to enable train services to approach the extended St Pancras station, and also interconnect with other railway networks, thus facilitating high-speed rail services north of London. It describes the engineering objectives and the civil and railway construction works needed to achieve this complex railway network. [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]

The success of the £5.8 billion, nine-year Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now renamed High Speed 1—in terms of cost and programme is a testament to the sophisticated control mechanisms which were put in place by the client, project manager and the contractors. These project controls continued to be improved and refined during the second section of the project and have given senior management the tools to make timely decisions on key project issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]