HS2 Ltd has submitted updated plans for its west London super-hub station at Old Oal Common.
The station, which will be expected to handle 250,000 passengers a day, has been designed by consultancy WSP and architects Wilkinson Eyre.
Plans to transform the area around the station, a former railway and industry site, are being led by Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC).
Six 450m HS2 platforms will be built in an 850m long underground box, with twin tunnels taking high-speed trains east to the southern terminus at Euston and west to the outskirts of London. Material excavated during work on the tunnels will be removed by rail from the nearby former Willesden Euroterminal depot.
The new HS2 station will also incorporate passenger and retail facilities and provide direct interchange with conventional rail services through eight conventional train platforms, to be served by the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail), taking passengers to Heathrow and Central London, and trains to Wales and the West of England.
The six high-speed platforms will be linked to the adjoining conventional station at ground level via a shared overbridge. A light and airy concourse will link both halves of the station, unified by a vast roof inspired by the site’s industrial heritage.
To the west of the station, above the HS2 platforms, there will be a new public park, a green space.
The submission also includes an application to lower and widen Old Oak Common Lane, which will improve access to the station for buses and pedestrians.
Work by HS2’s enabling works contractor, Costain Skanska JV (CSJV), at Old Oak Common to prepare for construction of the station has been underway since 2017 and the site is nearly ready to be handed over to HS2’s station construction partner for the station, Balfour Beatty Vinci Systra JV (BBVS) who were awarded the contract last September.
Matthew Botelle, HS2’s stations director said: “Significant progress is already being made at Old Oak Common with site clearance ready for station construction to start. The Schedule 17 submission is the next step in HS2’s delivery of a world class railway, with landmark station architecture designed with future passengers in mind.
“HS2 will transform Old Oak Common, and will be the key to unlocking thousands of new jobs and homes around what will be the UK’s best connected transport hub.”
The planning application will now be considered by OPDC and a decision is expected by summer 2020.
