Latest news with #HighSpeed2
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Skanska wins $167m contract for Skoyen metro station in Norway
Swedish construction company Skanska has received a contract worth Nkr1.7bn ($167.1m) from Fornebubanen for the construction of the Skoyen metro station in Oslo, Norway. The deal will be recorded in the Nordic order bookings for the second quarter of 2025. The project entails the development of an underground metro station featuring two tracks and dual access points located on either side of Hoffsveien at Skoyen. The construction phase is set to commence in September this year, with an anticipated completion date in 2029. The scope of work includes the creation of a station hall situated around 45m below ground level, along with concrete works, shafts, and various technical installations such as ventilation systems, electrical setups, elevators, and escalators. Additionally, the project encompasses the development of outdoor areas and access buildings, along with finishing works within pre-excavated tunnels. Further construction activities will also take place at Madserud, Bestum, and along the tunnel leading to Majorstuen. Skoyen serves as a significant public transport hub in Oslo, and the new station aims to enhance capacity and improve connections between the subway, train, and bus services, thereby supporting urban development in the city, according to the company. In 2022, Skanska secured an additional £78m ($105.1m) contract for work on the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line in the UK. In April 2020, Skanska, as part of a joint venture, signed a contract with HS2 for the detailed design and construction of major tunnels leading to the London terminus at Euston station. In 2022, Rio Grande Pacific Corporation (RGPC) selected firms for the final engineering and construction of the Uinta Basin Railway project in Utah. Aecom was responsible for the final design, while the Skanska-WW Clyde Joint Venture (JV) was tasked with construction. "Skanska wins $167m contract for Skoyen metro station in Norway" was originally created and published by Railway Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Crown Estate to buy stake in long-delayed Euston station development
Unlock the Editor's Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Crown Estate is set to confirm a deal with Australian developer Lendlease to buy a stake in the site around London's Euston station, as part of a joint venture for six projects expected to be worth £22bn once completed. The King's property company plans to take a 50 per cent stake in the new joint venture with Lendlease, which outlined the details in an announcement to the Australian stock exchange. The government appointed Lendlease as 'master development partner' for the development of the Euston site in 2018, with plans for a 60-acre redevelopment scheme around the major north London hub. Two people familiar with the deal told the Financial Times that the Euston site was among the Lendlease properties to be developed as part of the joint venture. The story was first reported by the Telegraph. The Australian company last year announced plans to sell its UK construction business and divest its British assets as part of a broader restructuring. Lendlease said in its trading statement that it had plans for a 50-50 joint venture with the Crown Estate for six development projects within its UK development portfolio with a combined value of more than £20bn once completed. 'Negotiations are in late stages with The Crown Estate to . . . release longer-dated capital at or slightly above book value, halve its future funding obligations, accelerate master planning with government clients and generate future fee income,' it added. The Crown Estate, which manages the monarch's landholdings on behalf of the general public, is one of Britain's largest landowners. It has a portfolio of more than £15bn of property including Ascot racecourse and parts of Regent Street in central London and most of Britain's seabed. The redevelopment of Euston station is caught up in a wider question of how the government pays for the final leg of the increasingly expensive High Speed 2 rail line from Birmingham to London, which is now expected to cost more than £80bn. Almost a decade after work started at Euston there is still no agreed plan for the new HS2 station in central London, including how it will be integrated with the existing services. The previous Conservative government had announced a plan to get private developers to pay for the construction of the new tunnel between Old Oak Common, a HS2 station to the west of London, and Euston. This would be in exchange for a deal to build profitable houses, offices and shops in a major revamp of the old Euston station site. But chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the Budget in October that the government would pay £1bn towards the tunnel, which would prevent the work so far from being mothballed. Other projects that the Crown Estate would gain part-control of through the deal include Smithfield Market in Birmingham; Silvertown Quays in London's Royal Docks; the Thamesmead Waterside development; the High Road West housing scheme opposite Tottenham Hotspur' stadium; and the Stratford Cross redevelopment. The Crown Estate declined to comment.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Is the US finally on track to build a high-speed rail network?
The US is a country of 340 million people, 71 interstate highways, more than 5,000 public airports, and currently no high-speed railways. Yet with two high-speed rail (HSR) projects now under construction, and others planned, is the US finally on track to start catching up with the fast trains seen in China, Japan and Europe? Rick Harnish, of US campaign group High Speed Rail Alliance, says it is at least good to see the first two schemes being built. "The first is the San Francisco to Los Angeles route," he explains. "That's an incredibly challenging route to build because of the mountains in California. "Then there's Las Vegas to Los Angeles, a relatively easy project to build, as it is flat land." In addition, there are plans for a HSR line from Portland in Oregon to Seattle in Washington State, and onto Vancouver in Canada. And another between Dallas and Houston. Yet Mr Harnish warns that planning efforts for the former are "moving slowly", while the Texas line is now more doubtful after President Trump's government cancelled a $63.9m (£48m) grant. By marked contrast, the total length of China's HSR network will reportedly exceed 50,000 km (31,000 miles) this year. Meanwhile, the European Union has 8,556 km of HSR lines, led by Spain's 3,190 km. In the UK, the only current HSR line is High Speed 1, the 68 miles link between the Channel Tunnel and London St Pancreas. But High Speed 2 continues to be constructed from London Euston to Birmingham, despite well-publicised funding issues. While there is no universally agreed definition on what constitutes HSR, global railways trade group International Union of Railways says that trains generally need to be moving at more than 250 km/h (155 mph). So why does US lag behind Europe and especially China? "We're a very car-addicted nation," says American rail industry journalist and author Will Doig. "There's lots of people who just don't think we need it, or don't really want it coming through their area. "And the US government has really shown a willingness to shut down investment in a lot of projects, especially rail." Further complicating the situation in the US is that the boss of the government-owned passenger train service Amtrak, Stephen Gardner, resigned last month. It was widely reported that he stood down after pressure from the White House. Amtrak currently does not operate any HSR trains. Later this year it is due to enter 28 new 160mph NextGen Acela trains into service on its Northeast Corridor route between Boston and Washington DC. However, only around 50 miles of the 457-mile line can presently allow trains to travel at more than 150mph. Amtrak is not involved in the high-speed lines being built in California and Nevada. The LA to San Francisco project, called California High-Speed Rail, is being led by the state of California, and due to be completed by 2033. The line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Brightline West, is a privately-run project. It is expected to open in 2028. Globally, there are 23 nations with HSR, according to Mr Harnish. His non-profit organisation has the sole mission of bringing it to the US. Allowing HSR trains to run safely is far from straightforward, he adds. "You can't have any crossings with highways, it needs to be very straight and a sealed corridor." In China the country is still building more and more HSR lines, with the total distance expected to reach around 60,000km by 2030. Chinese cities that get HSR links see their economies increase by 14.2%, according to data from Denmark-based think tank 21st Europe. Chinese firms are also helping to build HSR systems in other Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Will Doig, who wrote a book called High-Speed Empire, Chinese Expansion, and the Future of Southeast Asia, says that China is not just interested in helping its neighbours improve their rail networks. "It is a way of China spreading its influence across a region that it felt was geopolitically strategic," he says. "In some of these cases, countries have taken out loans from China so that China can then build the railways." He warns that this may put them "in a position where they're beholden to China". Europe's growing HSR network is testament to the continent's history of investing in its public infrastructure, says Kaave Pour from 21st Europe. His think tank is now calling for further expansion of HSR, so that it connects most capitals and main cities in the EU, and those in the UK. Mr Pour says that if the US wants to develop HSR it needs to start with a cultural shift, a move towards more public transport, and asking itself "what type of future does it want?". Mr Harnish from the High Speed Rail Alliance says that in order for HSR to work in the US, "the federal government is an essential component". Yet as already flagged, the White House has pulled the plug on giving the planned high-speed line between Houston and Dallas a federal grant. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the project as a "waste of taxpayers' money". Scott Sherin is an executive at French train manufacturer Alstom. His firm is suppling Amtrak's new high-speed trains, but he questions whether the US has the political will "to spend the public purse on rail versus other modes of transportation". He also notes that any future HSR lines would struggle to get into city centres such as Dallas and Houston, because there are too many buildings. "The issue is that the cities are so densely built [in their centres]". Will Doig says that going forward he would love to see China helping to build more HSR in the US, but that he is not holding his breath. "It's politically very difficult," he says. "Which is too bad because without the animosity between the US and China, you could see how a partnership between them could really create great things for America, that America is not so good at building itself."
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rip up spending rules to stop Reform, Burnham urges Reeves
Andy Burnham said the Chancellor must boost spending outside of London to stem the flow of support to Reform UK. The Mayor of Greater Manchester warned that excessive government spending in the South East was partly to blame for Nigel Farage's party beating Labour in local elections earlier this month. To claw back support, he said that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, should bankroll transport projects across the North of England and ditch formal Treasury spending guidelines that dictate where taxpayer money is spent. 'People want to see how this country starts to work better again, and work for everybody,' he said. 'They feel the unfairness when they travel around and it leads to the political turmoil that we experience. There is a social argument here to be made, rather than just an economic argument. 'We want a coherent strategy that all parts of the country can see their place within. If we don't get back to being a more functional, contented, united country you will always have that discontent.' On Wednesday, Mr Burnham will lead a delegation of politicians from the North West to Westminster to press Ms Reeves to back a northern extension to High Speed 2 (HS2) and a new line between Manchester and Liverpool. Mr Burnham said Treasury rules which provides guidance for ministers on how to appraise proposed projects – known as the Green Book – was shutting the North out of taxpayer-backed infrastructure projects. This is because the Green Book favours investment in areas offering the biggest short-term returns, skewing projects to the South East, he said. 'The North doesn't do that well in that scenario. But it could do well if you took a long-term approach. Rip up the Green Book, is my short answer. And have the belief that the North of England can be more in the 21st century than it was in the 20th,' he added. Mr Burnham, who stood down as an MP in 2017, said he became convinced that spending rules were flawed when working as chief secretary to the Treasury when Gordon Brown was prime minister. He said: 'I kept asking for my list of regional projects to announce alongside it. And it came back blank. It was the moment when the scales really fell from my eyes about what the Treasury thinks.' Since the last Conservative government scaled back its ambitions for the northern leg of HS2, Mr Burnham has been urging Ms Reeves to consider his alternative proposals for a less costly plan to complete the route. He said without a northern part of HS2, the project would become a 'permanent monument to the London-centric nature of our country'. The delegation to Westminster includes Steve Rotheram, the Mayor of Liverpool. Both will also press the Treasury for development funding for a new railway between Manchester and Liverpool. Under the proposal, construction could start on the project in the mid-2030s as work on HS2 began to wind down – providing vital continuity for the railway supply chain, Mr Burnham said. To help convince the Chancellor, Mr Burnham said a jump in land values along the route would help pay for the project if Ms Reeves funded preparatory work. Mr Burnham, speaking at the High Speed Rail Group annual conference, also said mayoral authorities should have more power over infrastructure projects – potentially speeding up construction times. He said HS2's top-down approach had highlighted 'something about the ways of Westminster' that build costs and delays into projects. He said: 'We need to make a decisive break with the HS2 model. It will never work and we'll have this stop-start approach to the railway for the rest of this century if we're not careful.' The Chancellor is expected to present the conclusions of her spending review in the coming weeks, with the outcome informing an ongoing assessment of infrastructure projects. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rip up spending rules to stop Reform, Burnham urges Reeves
Andy Burnham said the Chancellor must boost spending outside of London to stem the flow of support to Reform UK. The Mayor of Greater Manchester warned that excessive government spending in the South East was partly to blame for Nigel Farage's party beating Labour in local elections earlier this month. To claw back support, he said that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, should bankroll transport projects across the North of England and ditch formal Treasury spending guidelines that dictate where taxpayer money is spent. 'People want to see how this country starts to work better again, and work for everybody,' he said. 'They feel the unfairness when they travel around and it leads to the political turmoil that we experience. There is a social argument here to be made, rather than just an economic argument. 'We want a coherent strategy that all parts of the country can see their place within. If we don't get back to being a more functional, contented, united country you will always have that discontent.' On Wednesday, Mr Burnham will lead a delegation of politicians from the North West to Westminster to press Ms Reeves to back a northern extension to High Speed 2 (HS2) and a new line between Manchester and Liverpool. Mr Burnham said Treasury rules which provides guidance for ministers on how to appraise proposed projects – known as the Green Book – was shutting the North out of taxpayer-backed infrastructure projects. This is because the Green Book favours investment in areas offering the biggest short-term returns, skewing projects to the South East, he said. 'The North doesn't do that well in that scenario. But it could do well if you took a long-term approach. Rip up the Green Book, is my short answer. And have the belief that the North of England can be more in the 21st century than it was in the 20th,' he added. Mr Burnham, who stood down as an MP in 2017, said he became convinced that spending rules were flawed when working as chief secretary to the Treasury when Gordon Brown was prime minister. He said: 'I kept asking for my list of regional projects to announce alongside it. And it came back blank. It was the moment when the scales really fell from my eyes about what the Treasury thinks.' Since the last Conservative government scaled back its ambitions for the northern leg of HS2, Mr Burnham has been urging Ms Reeves to consider his alternative proposals for a less costly plan to complete the route. He said without a northern part of HS2, the project would become a 'permanent monument to the London-centric nature of our country'. The delegation to Westminster includes Steve Rotheram, the Mayor of Liverpool. Both will also press the Treasury for development funding for a new railway between Manchester and Liverpool. Under the proposal, construction could start on the project in the mid-2030s as work on HS2 began to wind down – providing vital continuity for the railway supply chain, Mr Burnham said. To help convince the Chancellor, Mr Burnham said a jump in land values along the route would help pay for the project if Ms Reeves funded preparatory work. Mr Burnham, speaking at the High Speed Rail Group annual conference, also said mayoral authorities should have more power over infrastructure projects – potentially speeding up construction times. He said HS2's top-down approach had highlighted 'something about the ways of Westminster' that build costs and delays into projects. He said: 'We need to make a decisive break with the HS2 model. It will never work and we'll have this stop-start approach to the railway for the rest of this century if we're not careful.' The Chancellor is expected to present the conclusions of her spending review in the coming weeks, with the outcome informing an ongoing assessment of infrastructure projects. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
