Acronyms that contain the term high speed 2 

High Speed 2

High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its most southerly terminus, London, to its most northerly point, Manchester, with branches to Birmingham and the East Midlands. HS2 will be Britain's second purpose-built high-speed line, the first being High Speed 1, which connects London to the Channel Tunnel. At its southern end, the line will terminate at London's Euston station while other termini will be Birmingham Curzon Street station and Manchester Piccadilly station. In addition to these stations, the dedicated track will serve Old Oak Common in west London, Birmingham Interchange, East Midlands Parkway south of Nottingham, Crewe, and Manchester Airport. There will be several junctions for trains to progress onto the existing West Coast Main Line and Midland Main Line to reach towns and cities in Scotland, North West and North East England, and the West and East Midlands, which are not served by the new high-speed track. The trains, capable of operating at the line's design speed of 400 km/h (250 mph), will run at a maximum speed of 360 km/h (225 mph) and will operate on both HS2 track and existing conventional track, being able to reach locations off the HS2 line using a mixture of HS2 and conventional network services. Future orders could include "captive" trains, to be used solely on the high-speed spine. The project is to be accomplished in three phases. Phase 1, which is under construction, is from London to a junction with the West Coast Main Line near Lichfield with a branch to Birmingham. Construction on the line began in 2020 with tunnelling beginning under the Chiltern hills on the edge of northwest London in 2021. Phase 2a, from Lichfield to a second junction with the West Coast Main Line at Crewe, has achieved royal assent but full construction has not yet commenced. Phase 2b is from Crewe to Manchester, with a link to the West Coast Main Line at Crewe for trains to continue to Scotland, and from the West Midlands to East Midlands Parkway where HS2 joins the conventional rail Midland Main Line. Phase 2b is awaiting parliamentary approval. The original design for HS2 was a "Y" network, with two legs forking at Birmingham. The fork to the west was to proceed to the North West of England at Golborne south of Wigan, where it would connect onto the West Coast Main Line to Scotland, with a branch to Manchester. The fork to the east was to proceed to the northeast of England, at York, where it would connect to the East Coast Main Line to Newcastle, with a branch to Leeds. There was to be a link in London across Camden, linking HS2 and HS1 and giving access to the continent from all major cities. There was also to be a link from Uxbridge to Heathrow. The proposed network has been cut substantially since it was announced in 2013. Links to HS1 and Heathrow were dropped at an early stage. From November 2021 to June 2022, substantial parts of HS2 were dropped. As part of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands, it was announced that most of the eastern leg of phase 2b from Birmingham via the East Midlands to Leeds/York would be dropped. The branch from Coleshill near Birmingham towards Nottingham remains, with the route diverted to the existing East Midlands Parkway station, where trains can continue north onto the conventional rail Midland Main Line. The link from Golborne onto the West Coast Main Line was dropped. The project has both supporters and opponents. Supporters of the project believe that the additional capacity and reliability provided by HS2 will accommodate passenger numbers rising to pre-COVID levels while driving a further modal shift to rail. Opponents believe that the project is neither environmentally nor financially sustainable. In 2019, in response to criticism, the government ordered a review of the project—chaired by the project's former chairman, Douglas Oakervee, which recommended that the entire project proceed as planned. However, the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands, released in November 2021, cut back the project, as well as the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project it is integrated with. In 2010, the construction costs of HS2 were estimated to be between £30.9 billion and £36 billion; in 2015, this estimate was combined with the cost of rolling stock, and adjusted for inflation, to result in a budget of £56.6 billion. Oakervee's 2019 review estimated the project would cost up to £87 billion at 2019 prices for the originally envisioned "Y" network.

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