The original intent of the planned HS2 project has been diluted over the six years of planning and reviews. The objectives of providing direct links to Heathrow Airport and HS1 have been dropped and the longer tunnelled sections will increase journey times. There is now a recognition of the importance of providing greater connectivity, boosting existing network integration and resilience, and generating significant economic benefit for the country. However, to date there is only limited evidence that these aims will be achieved. Given the scale of investment, particularly in these times of public sector spending cuts, HS2 needs to be cost-effective, to deliver exceptional value for money and provide programme certainty. This is definitely not the case with HS2 in London. It is easy to be critical of bold projects such as HS2. As engineers we have challenged ourselves to move beyond criticism to identify a better solution; One that delivers the most effective set of outcomes against the programme’s key objectives.

The London terminus at Euston is a major problem for HS2. “We have to be realistic; despite huge amounts of effort, time and money, HS2 Ltd has failed to prove that Euston can be delivered effectively. Critical issues have not been addressed, and changes in the London market have not been fully assessed.”

Andrew Comer Director, BuroHappold Cities BUROHAPPOLD ENGINEERING

It is clear to us and others that Euston: we have a problem “the proposition of a terminal There are several major issues with the current proposals for the HS2 at Euston is fundamentally terminus at Euston: flawed and that the potential • Delivery challenges: Euston requires a massive land-take on a constrained regeneration impetus and complex operational site. Adding eleven new HS2 platforms to the of the national high speed challenges of upgrading the underground station, delivering Crossrail 2, and regenerating the local area is a step too far. programme ought best be • Spiralling costs: Land acquisition and construction estimates for the applied elsewhere in London.” completion of the Euston terminal, from various sources, has risen from Roger Nickells the original budget of £1bn to between £4bn and £7bn. Even the current CEO, BuroHappold partial build-out proposals tabled are acknowledged to cost well over £2bn –without including the costs of land acquisition nor the work required by others to complete the build-out. • London disruption: Over two decades of misery for those living and working around the area and for commuters using the regional line into CURRENT SCHEME the existing station. • Connectivity: Key link to HS1 has been dropped – removing the direct international link and also inter-regional connectivity. • Wasted regeneration boost: To counter rising costs, significant M25 over-site development is planned. Yet Euston is already benefitting from the regeneration aroundTo Luton Kings Cross and will gain the benefit of a future Airport Crossrail 2 station. The incremental value delivered by HS2 will be marginal.

To Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester Current scheme HS1

Crossrail 2

Thameslink Regional Rail

EUSTON KINGS CROSS / ST PANCRAS

HS2

OLD OAK COMMON M25 M25

Crossrail PADDINGTON BOND STREET FARRINGDON To Reading To Essex

Crossrail

EBBSFLEET

HS1

Crossrail 2 Interchange to Air Thameslink Regional Rail

National Rail To Europe InterCity Coach

To Gatwick Bus Airport To Kent Car

Ferry M25

Walking

Underground

Overground We have taken a fresh look at some of the original aims of the HS2 project and drawn on our international experience and upon best-practice in urban infrastructure. Our solution, Cross City Connect TM (CCC), traverses London in tunnel construction from Old Oak Common in the West to Ebbsfleet Station in the East. It links directly to Europe via HS1, and connects regional services from Essex and Kent to the Thames Valley, the West, Midlands and the North. There will be a new central London hub on the South Bank beneath and between Waterloo and Southwark. It has the capacity to include additional interchanges to enhance regional CROSS CITY CONNECTconnectivity and- PREFERREDunlock much-needed growth areas.SCHEME

MAP ANCHOR M25 To Luton Airport

To Birmingham, 01 Leeds and Manchester HS1 Thameslink Crossrail 2 Crossrail BARKING HS2 KINGS CROSS EUSTON / ST PANCRAS

M25 c2c OLD OAK COMMON

04 HEATHROW HUB M25 PADDINGTON BOND STREET FARRINGDON To Reading To Essex and the West Great Western Crossrail

TM Cross City Connect CLAPHAM SOUTH BANK Crossrail JUNCTION CENTRALTM c2c To Essex Cross City ConnectTM Alternative route

EBBSFLEET

HS1 CCC Interchange Thameslink Crossrail 2 Crossrail Southeastern Potential CCC Interchange To Europe Interchange to Air

National Rail To Gatwick Airport To Kent InterCity Coach

Bus M25 Ferry

Underground 05 02 Overground BUROHAPPOLD ENGINEERING

Key elements of the proposed Cross City Connect project

Working closely with tunnelling specialists OTB, we have defined a route that is deliverable for no more than the cost of the full delivery of Euston, within current HS2 programme time frames.

01 03 Western Hub: OLD OAK COMMON Eastern Hub: EBBSFLEET

Our proposal sees Old Oak Common Coming to the surface near Rainham, become the western station for the CCC our route travels to the existing HS1 underground rail link. station at Ebbsfleet as our gateway to both international and inter-regional services. • Key London HS2 station with connections to Crossrail and Great Western Mainline • Connection to existing HS1 services to Europe • Further boost to the area’s massive CROSS CITY CONNECT - PREFERRED SCHEME regeneration potential • Inter-regional trains linking the Thames Valley and the West to Kent (Javelin) • The opportunity to create an interim and Essex (c2c) terminus for HS2 Phase 1, allowing time M25 for the delivery of a better solution • Boost to the embryonic Ebbsfleet ahead of Phase 2 Garden City To Luton Airport • Options to provide additional • Ease of access to M25 and other connectivity to the Bakerloo Line and regional motorways. To Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester to overground services at Willesden HS1 Junction. (See later section for more information). Thameslink Crossrail 2 Crossrail 04-06 BARKING 06 Potential CCC Interchanges HS2 KINGS CROSS EUSTON / ST PANCRAS Cross City Connect has been designed

M25 02 c2c to enable significant future connectivity Central London Interchange: OLD OAK and regeneration to be delivered SOUTH BANK CENTRALTM COMMON cost-effectively: HEATHROW HUB M25 A new central station that sits beneath PADDINGTON BOND STREET FARRINGDON • HEATHROW HUB: Depending on To Reading To Essex and between four existing stations in and the West the final decision on the location of the Great Western Crossrail the heart of London. Initial investigations future southeast Airport, there is also an TM Crossrail demonstrate that this is a viable and Cross City Connect CLAPHAM SOUTH BANK option to link directly to a new transport JUNCTION CENTRALTM c2c economically beneficial option. To Essex Cross City ConnectTM hub and employment site at Heathrow Alternative route • Significant benefits in terms of • CLAPHAM JUNCTION: There is the EBBSFLEET connectivity, network capacity 0103 option for an interchange with Crossrail and resilience 2 and the many overground services to HS1 CCC Interchange • Provides walking access to Central London South London and beyond Thameslink Crossrail 2 Crossrail Southeastern Potential CCC Interchange • Links to 5 underground lines, • BARKING: There is the potential for To Europe Thameslink and overground services a future station to provide impetus to Interchange to Air to the southeast and southwest the Thames Gateway area to support National Rail To Gatwick London’s projected growth. Airport To Kent • More efficient dispersal at Waterloo, InterCity Coach Southwark / Blackfriars Bus M25 • Boost to the South Bank / Blackfriars area Ferry • Regeneration boost to the South Underground Bank, and to the Elephant & Castle and BACK TO MAP Overground Vauxhall Nine Elms opportunity areas. We believe that it is viable to It is important that HS2 hits its ambitious timetable. With the right level of “pause at Old Oak Common, support and decisive commitment, it will be possible to deliver Cross City Connect by 2026 – the current timetable for the partial terminus at Euston and rethink the connectivity promoted by HS2 Ltd. It is certainly possible to deliver the full scheme in of HS2 with London – rather advance of HS2 Phase 2. than continuing to try and justify the flawed decision A Temporary Terminus at Old Oak Common already made.” Old Oak Common presents a viable interim solution for the first phase of HS2: Andrew Comer • HS2 passengers transfer to a waiting Crossrail train for onward transfer to Director, BuroHappold Cities central and eastern London. Passengers can also travel west on Crossrail to Heathrow and the Thames Valley • Turnaround of HS2 trains using the six HS2 platforms, supplemented by the first section of the CCC tunnel • Options for increased connectivity via a travellator link to Willesden Junction, or an extension to the Bakerloo Line at Queens Park.

To Stratford To Harrow

To Euston Bakerloo Line To Watford Junction Overground

WILLESDEN JUNCTION Overground To Elephant & Castle QUEENS PARK

Bakerloo Line

Overground Tunnel for Euston Light or Bakerloo Extension

Overground Travelator

To Birmingham, HS2 Great Western Manchester, Crossrail Leeds & Sheffield Potential Overground OLD OAK Extension To Central & COMMON East London CCC Interchange Cross City Connect TM Crossrail Great Western Overground Potential CCC Interchange To Thames Valley To Paddington Interchange to Air

National Rail To Waterloo, Southeast & Europe To West and Wales InterCity Coach To Richmond To Clapham Junction

Bus

Ferry

Underground

Overground BUROHAPPOLD ENGINEERING

For us, Old Oak Common Why Old Oak Common won’t work as a permanent HS2 Terminus “represents an opportunity By the opening of HS2 Phase 2, a new solution will be required to cope with to achieve the right solution significant additional volumes: for this ‘once-in-a-generation’ • HS2 passengers travelling to and from Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds project – Cross City Connect • Crossrail will experience increased usage from residential and job growth will come online by the second along its route phase of the HS2 project • The development of Old Oak Common North and South is predicted to add and provide the integration, up to 14,000 homes and bring 80,000 jobs to the area connectivity, capacity and • London’s population is forecast to increase by close to 2 million additional regenerative impetus missing residents by 2030. in current proposals.” By 2030, Cross City Connect will be ready to carry passengers to its central London interchange and on to Ebbsfleet with connection to HS1 and regional Roger Nickells services to Essex and Kent. CEO, BuroHappold

Unlike Euston, Cross City Connect can be achieved with minimal “disruption to daily life in London. Costs are similar to current proposals, but the value will be much greater for the London economy and the economy of a country as a whole. As George Osborne states, transport linkage and connectivity is key to supporting economic growth.”

Philip Bates Head of Economic Infrastructure, BuroHappold Cities Connectivity, capacity Development Cost Certainty and resilience: and regeneration: and Minimal Disruption:

• Greater UK regional connectivity, • Access to a larger labour pool • Tunnelling beneath London, from the northwest, northeast and supports the enlargement of the following existing rail corridors Midlands to London, and to the London Economic Area manages risk more efficiently southeast and southwest • Supports trends for flexible • Through-running at South Bank • Reduced traffic volumes on the working, access to affordable Central avoids the need for eleven M25 and the wider southeast housing and quality of life drivers platforms at Euston’s terminus motorway network • South Bank Central will unlock • Subterranean stations minimise • Broader and more efficient the potential economic value land-take and provide greater dispersal at Waterloo / Southwark of the area around Waterloo and opportunity for valuable Over- / Blackfriars with more effective Blackfriars – a possible southern Site Development. And create access to other services extension to the City’s business significantly lower disruption and financial services district to working London during • Reduced pressure on Crossrail construction long term via our additional • A significant boost to the key east-west route regeneration sites at Elephant & • Delayed expenditure of significant Castle, Vauxhall and Nine Elms public funds to the second phase • Direct rail links between of the HS2 programme. our regional cities and key • Possible future station in Barking to international transport gateways drive regeneration in the Thames via CCC interchanges. Gateway, providing vital access to employment opportunities and unlocking wider housing plans to the east of London • Euston Station and surrounding area can be redeveloped with nearby Kings Cross in a structured way without HS2 complexity.

Supported by tunnelling specialists

For more information on Cross City Connect, contact Andrew Comer or Nick South on [email protected]

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