HS2 unveils new London Euston designs
HS2 has unveiled new design for its London Euston station, seven years after they were originally shown to the public.
The updated concept has turned Euston from an initial 11-platform station to a 10-platform and simpler one, which will be built in one phase instead of two.
According to HS2’s Euston are client director Laurence Whitbourn, the change in design will still allow HS2 to run 17 trains per hour, despite structural concerns from stakeholders such as Transport for London.
“There are two or three things that really affect the ability to run the service,” he told journalists today. “There is the number of platform but there is also the wider HS2 infrastructure and the timetable and train service specification. You need to have all these three things together for the system [to work].
“We undertook modelling as part of the study earlier in the year and we’re confident we can manage 17 trains four hour service with a high level of performance.”
Set across across three levels, the new station – which is expected to be completed between 2031 and 2036 – is expected to become not only a major transport hub, but also a catalyst for redevelopment.
“The scale of the new HS2 London Euston station means we have the opportunity to create a new truly public civic space for London, a place that responds to transport and passenger needs and becomes part of the existing urban fabric and community,” added lead architect Declan McCafferty.
Under the new concept, the station will create new homes and businesses, as well as two green areas – the construction of which will support 3,000 new jobs at peak times.
By positioning the platforms underground, the station will allow people to walk north-south between Camden Town and Bloomsbury as well as east-west.
This station will not only benefit the local community by enabling the comprehensive redevelopment of the area but will serve as a transport super hub acting as a gateway to the Midlands and the North – enabling us to deliver better railways across the nation sooner than under previous plans,” said HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson.
HS2 management said the company took seven years to unveil the designs because it took the “time to get this right.”
“What we have created here is a design that has a smaller footprint, it can be delivered significantly quicker – delivering the benefits early but also reducing the impact on the people who live and work here,” the Euston Partnership’s managing director Tom Venner told journalists.