Civils contractor bags £207m HS2 overhead wiring contract

Civils firm Colas Rail has scooped up a £206.9m job to develop HS2’s overhead wiring system.

The contractor will now design, manufacture, install and test HS2’s overhead catenary system (OCS), for 469km worth of track.

That will include overhead wiring to supply electric power for 250 bridges, 58 viaducts, 47 underbridges and 148 overbridges, according to a tender notice released last Thursday (6 February).

Colas Rail’s OCS will also cover 115 culverts and 99 high-speed turnouts. These are switches enabling trains to move from one track to another at speeds of up to 230 kilometres per hour.

In addition, the contractor’s work will cover 32 low-to-medium speed turnouts (where trains will run at up to 100km per hour) and four complex track junctions.

The project is not the first HS2 construction job involving Colas Rail. Last April, Construction News visited the station box at HS2’s Old Oak Common station in London – where the firm is providing infrastructure for six overground tracks.

Colas Rail generated a pre-tax profit of £27.9m from record turnover of £403.7m in its most recent accounts for the 2023 calendar year.

In contrast, its sister firm Colas Limited described  “increasing, irrecoverable costs” on a number of projects in 2023 in its most recent accounts. The firm decided in November 2023 to scrap its regional business units as a consequence.

HS2 has also faced a challenging start to the year. Last month, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority gave it a red ‘unachievable’ rating for the second consecutive year.

Also in January, HS2 submitted a new design for its Curzon Street terminus in Birmingham.

HS2 obtained outline planning permission for Curzon Street in 2020, with early works starting last year.