HS2 Chief Pledges ‘No Let-Up’ in Building High-Speed Railway

There will be “no let-up” in HS2’s progress next year, according to the boss of the high-speed rail project. HS2 Ltd executive chair Sir Jon Thompson said the transition toward railway systems—such as track and signalling—will “edge us ever closer” to completion. The Government-owned company is building HS2 between London and the West Midlands. Plans to extend the route north to Manchester and Leeds were scrapped to cut costs. A series of construction milestones are expected to take place early in 2024. Formal work on central Birmingham’s new Curzon Street station will begin and the first of two machines digging a ten-mile-long twin-bore tunnel under the Chiltern Hills will complete its journey....