News
Celebrating 10 years powering High Speed 1
19 November 2017: We are celebrating ten years as High Speed 1’s electrical infrastructure partner.
We have invested nearly £150 million into the UK’s first high-speed railway and through our design management and stewardship of a vital national infrastructure asset, have helped deliver cost savings for the taxpayer and 99.99% network availability enabling High Speed 1 to be the most reliable railway line in Europe.
The route has enabled passengers to travel up to 186 miles per hour from London St Pancras to Kent, Paris and Brussels, and has attracted at least £3.8 billion in economic and social benefits to Kent, London and the UK. It currently carries 75,000 train services and 20 million passengers each year.
Ian Smyth, director of UK Power Networks Services, said:
"One of the major capital investments over the next decade is High Speed 2, and there must be a drive towards a quality service that delivers a better outcome long-term, delivering value to the customer and taxpayer throughout the whole life of the asset."
We managed the design, construction and commissioning of the traction power and non-traction networks, which included three National Grid Supply Points, 20 autotransformer sites and 36 substations along the 67 mile-length of the track.