Birmingham Airport and HS2 CEOs Discuss Works Coming Soon
A joint site meeting has taken place between Birmingham Airport’s CEO and Mark Wild, CEO of HS2 Ltd, as discussions and planning for enabling works continue. These works will help deliver the fastest connectivity between Birmingham Airport and London.
Visiting the airport, HS2 bosses were shown facilities and areas in which the airport needs to start work on next year, allowing the creation of assets including work compounds for the project. Also demonstrated were the re-routing of utilities, relocation of car parking facilities and re-configuration of road layouts needed to remain on track to welcome HS2 engineers on site.
The arrival of HS2 into Birmingham Airport will mean that it will become the equivalent of Zone 5 on the tube map, into central London. Access into the capital will mean people from the West Midlands can reach Euston in 38 minutes and Bond Street in 48 minutes.
Passengers arriving at HS2’s Interchange station will travel on an automated people mover from the station to the Airport, with stops at the NEC and existing International rail station.
Speaking of the project, Nick Barton, CEO of Birmingham Airport said: “The benefits of HS2 have been debated for many years and, despite its challenges, today’s conversation demonstrated the need to begin the work that will turn this project into reality. We are a huge supporter of HS2 and look forward to working in partnership to help create jobs and opportunities for so many in this region.
“However, just to clear, the site needed for engineers and equipment will take around two years as we will be doing so in a live operational environment, ensuring that minimal disruption is caused to the airport, its passengers, people and partners. Showing Mark first-hand the scale of this is valuable, ensuring adequate time for enabling works is factored in.”
Work that will enable HS2 to start its build at the airport comes at the same time Birmingham Airport is also undergoing its biggest capital investment programme, ever. This year alone sees the airport spend £1.5m every week improving its terminal and investing in the airfield, as it gets set for ongoing growth in passenger numbers and airline demand.
Mark Wild, CEO of HS2 Ltd commenting on the visit said:
“It was great to meet Nick and the team at Birmingham Airport to discuss construction of the shuttle that will take passengers from our new HS2 Interchange station to the Airport. Once complete, HS2 will dramatically cut journey times to central London and free up space on the existing line through Birmingham International, for more freight and local services, creating huge economic benefits for the wider area.
“I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Airport - and local businesses and communities - as we reset HS2 to tackle challenges and identify opportunities during the delivery of this transformative new station.”
Birmingham Airport is gearing up for sustainable growth over the next decade with surface access and public transport options, across all modes, under consideration. Already well served by road networks, options and availability of train transportation needs to be improved to better reflect the servicing of a 24/7 operation like an airport, providing colleagues and customers with more choice and affordable, sustainable travel options.
Having completed its busiest summer on record and already home to 35 airlines, flying direct to 144 destinations, passengers from Birmingham can now access over 650 destinations via one stop. One year into its biggest ever marketing campaign, the airport is confidently communicating “We’re (Birmingham) on our Way” in all aspects of responsible growth.