Twin HS2 viaducts completed after major works

The longest HS2 viaduct structures in the Midlands have been completed.

They span the M42 northbound and southbound and run 1,400 metres in length.

The pair, in the planning since 2022 and now in place in Water Orton, Warwickshire, form the upper section of the Delta Junction, which is dubbed the railway's answer to Birmingham's infamous looping motorway interchange Spaghetti Junction.

HS2 Ltd, the company delivering the high speed railway, says the viaducts stand 20 metres at their highest point, and will be among the tallest structures along the HS2 route, taking trains over not only the M42, but the Birmingham to Peterborough rail line and the River Tame.

HS2 Ltd said: "This critical infrastructure lets HS2 operate as a fully integrated national network – increasing capacity, improving reliability and reducing journey times between the UK's major cities."

HS2 Ltd added that it had worked with National Highways on M42 road closures over the summer to try to minimise the disruption to one of the UK's busiest motorways.

Cem Kadioglu, section manager for Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), has been working on the viaducts over the summer months and told the BBC: "The most challenging part was to finalise how we are going to build it, before we actually started the construction.

"We brought [the segments] together like Lego pieces. We attached them together and moved forward by attaching one to the previous one and going continuously from one side to the other. So it's like building a long Lego block series."

It is hoped the first train will cross the viaducts in 2037, at the northern point of Delta Junction.

The HS2 project has proved controversial during its storied conception and delivery.

In 2012, the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced plans for HS2 to run from London to Birmingham, with separate lines onwards to Leeds and Manchester, with an opening date for the southern section set for 2026. It had a construction budget at £42.6bn, calculated using 2011 prices.

In May 2026, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the rail project was now expected to cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn in 2025 prices.

It came after the northern legs of the route were scrapped by the previous Conservative government in 2023.

The full service from London Euston to Curzon Street, Birmingham, and a connection to the West Coast Main Line, is now not expected to run until between 2040 and 2043.

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