Roundup: Contracts worth over 1.1 bln USD awarded to start British biggest rail project

British Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling announced Tuesday the award of the first major contracts worth 900 million pounds (1.12 billion U.S. dollars) to start work on the London to Birmingham leg of the new high speed rail link, HS2.

Grayling also announced Tuesday the route of the second phase of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.

With HS2 linking the north of England to the existing 160-year-old West Coast Line, it will reduce journey times to Britain's capital from Edinburgh as well as Glasgow.

Grayling said HS2, the company set up to build the new rail, has awarded three contracts to major construction companies for preparatory work ahead of civil engineering work to commence laying the new line next year.

The transport secretary told MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday: "Our railways owe much to the Victorian engineers who pioneered them, but we cannot rest on their legacy when we face overcrowding and capacity problems.

"HS2 is an ambitious and exciting project and the government is seizing the opportunity it offers to build a transport network fit for the 21st century."

"The full HS2 route will be a game-changer for the country that will slash journey times and perhaps, most importantly, give rail passengers on the existing network thousands of extra seats every day. They represent the greatest upgrade to our railway in living memory."

He said poor connectivity between the cities and regions of the English midlands region and the north was restraining economic growth, adding: "HS2 will become the backbone of our national rail network. It will increase capacity on our congested railways, improve connections between our biggest cities and regions, and generate jobs, skills and economic growth."

HS2 will be the first new railway to be built north of London in more than 100 years. But the existing lines from the north are now overcrowded, according to government figures.

There is overcrowding on peak services, with more than 10 percent of passengers arriving on peak hour services into Birmingham and Manchester having to stand because there are not enough seats.

The whole project is currently set to cost more than 69 billion U.S. dollars, with phase one between London and Birmingham costing around half, almost 34 billion U.S. dollars.

When phase one opens, journey times between London and Birmingham will be cut from one hour and 21 minutes to 49 minutes. When phase two is completed, journey times to London from Manchester will be slashed by half to just over one hour. Endit