Delivering High speed 1: The Successes and the Lessons

On 14 November 2007, some 13 years after the start of Eurostar services between London, Paris and Brussels, Britain’s first genuine high-speed railway line was completed, on time and within budget.

Originally known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), the project was renamed High Speed 1 (HS1) in November 2006. HS1 is the UK’s first major new railway in over a century: a high-speed line allowing trains to run at speeds of up to 300 km/h between the Channel Tunnel and London.

Presentations from the key organisations involved on the programme provided an insight into one of the UK’s most successful major projects in recent years, and an opportunity to explore aspects that should be transferred to the many new projects now under way. The seminar examined the planning, financing and project management that went into building the railway, and the work involved in the successful launch of Eurostar services on HS1.