Search

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]

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]

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 London tunnels of section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link—now known as High Speed 1—carry the new railway from the eastern edge of London into the centre at St Pancras, a distance of approximately 20 km. The scheme required civil engineering and particularly mechanised tunnelling to be pushed to the limits of technology. Successful delivery of the works required strong emphasis on proactive risk management and a single team approach throughout the design and construction phases. This in turn led to an unusual but effective procurement approach. Together these factors have resulted in the successful delivery of a major new transport asset with little disruption to the everyday life of Londoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]