Committee visits Old Oak Common station building site
12 July 2023
On Wednesday 5 July, the Select Committee on the High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill visited the construction site for the new Old Oak Common station as part of its consideration of proposals for the new high-speed station at Manchester Piccadilly.
The High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill makes provision for a surface-level turnback station at Manchester Piccadilly. In June the Committee held a series of hearings with the Greater Manchester Partners (Manchester City Council, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and Transport for Greater Manchester) where the petitioners presented an alternative proposal, for an underground through station. The Committee visited Manchester Piccadilly station in June.
Old Oak Common is a new underground station being constructed in west London as part of the ‘Phase 1’ HS2 route between London and the West Midlands. Visiting this site gave the Committee the opportunity to see an example of the construction of a below-surface level station in an urban area.
Committee members received a briefing on the development of the station from the site Project Manager, observed the works from a viewing platform, and undertook a walking tour of the construction site. The visit enabled the Committee to understand the scale and challenges of building an underground station and to compare the Old Oak Common site to the proposal for Manchester Piccadilly presented by the Greater Manchester Partners.
The Committee members were accompanied on the visit by a representative of Transport for Greater Manchester as well as engineering experts from HS2 Ltd and officials from the Department for Transport.
Further information
Image credit: UK Parliament