EWR Meets HS2 May 2024

An aerial view of the area where EWR meets the ever controversial HS2 at Calvert in Buckinghamshire.
EWR is a project to connect the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, although the section between Bedford and Cambridge is in some jeopardy. Parts of this line is the same route as the old Varsity Line, mostly closed to passenger services in the 1960s.
HS2 is the UK rail industry's vanity project to have yet another line linking London and Birmingham at huge expense.
The sleep villages of Calvert and Steeple Claydon is where these 2 lines cross each other, and where HS2 will have a huge maintenance depot, and is roughly halfway along the route between London and Birmingham.
Music by Joystock - www.joystock.org

[@VERY_VARIOUS_VIDEOS]

Wonderful flight, places, shots, music soundtrack. Thank you very much for sharing. Video like 👍

[@theboy-uk]

Thanks Very_Various_Videos, glad you liked it.

[@VERY_VARIOUS_VIDEOS]

@@theboy-uk You are welcome new friend 🙂

[@davidwatson8292]

Brilliant film showing us from all angles.

[@theboy-uk]

Thanks, I'd be meaning to get back to the area for ages, as noticed my last video of this intersection was exactly a year ago, where did that time go!

[@robodrone5662]

I always admire such constructions. Great flight.

[@theboy-uk]

I love "big engineering", and EWR is progressing well. HS2 remains stubbornly slow though.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

​@@theboy-uk.. fingers tightly crossed that HS2 grinds to a complete halt in the very near future 🤞

[@martinsloman6905]

​@@theboy-ukI think thst one of the problems with HS2 is that much of the route is earthworks. So we see mile upon mile of countryside ripped up and transformed into muddy wasteland. No amount of earthmoving makes much of a difference. It is only when new planting takes place and becomes established and when the trackbed is visible that we begin to see what has been accomplished. When Central Park in New York was being constructed, a huge amount of earthworks including rock excavation, digging of lakes and levelling of hills occurred but people who saw the finished product praised the designers for not changing anything. I think the truth is that areas such as this are not on the project critical path and so construction activity is less intensive. Further southward you have a huge amount of construction activity at Old Oak Common station, the longest rail viaduct in Britain - the two mile Colne Valley Viaduct - nearing completion and the longest rail tunnel - the 10 mile Chiltern Tunnel - structurally complete.

[@martinsloman6905]

​@@CRIMSONANT1What you are seeing now represents the maximum extent of HS2 encroachment on the countryside. Give it another two years and earthworks will be complete, planting will becoming established and HS2 works will be mainly confined to within the lineside fences.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

​@@martinsloman6905.. given HS2's incompetence when it comes to the environment, I'm afraid I don't share your confidence. HS2 Ltd have already incurred multiple fines for numerous breaches of environmental issues.. thousands of trees planted along the route in Warwickshire where the vast majority perished due to lack of aftercare. The pollution of streams, rivers & other waterways with toxic chemicals. The bulldozing of mile upon mile of hedgerows containing nesting birds when they specifically promised to wait until the nesting season was over .. the list goes on. This monstrous vanity project is an environmental disaster of epic proportions & Britain's biggest infrastructure mistake in half a century.

[@martinsloman6905]

Great video. Must be the first time in well over a century when two major rail projects have intersected like this.

[@theboy-uk]

Certainly doesn't happen often in these parts!

[@Carlos-im3hn]

The Boy great views and music, added blue text and header markings ! now I know what I'm looking at and picking out landscape features. Once complete these great rail lines will be beautiful, fast, and with filled-in green landscape. Hopefully in the future they can upgrade and electrify the EWR (and TRU) too. In the USA we are much further behind. In the USA I don't know if we have any 225mph train lines ? Also these electrifications will need some new modern baseload power plants as well (controversial but necessary).

[@theboy-uk]

The EWR will soon look the same as the old Varsity line close to passengers in the 1960s, once the initial "new-ness" wears off. HS2 will most likely look like a bramble ridden wasteland if the rest of the UK rail industry's spare land is anything to go by, unless the tax payer picks up the perpetual land management costs...

[@ianhart3048]

Great update! Thanks.

[@theboy-uk]

Thanks - been some progress on the crossing since my last video, and all the EWR track is laid in this area. HS2 less impressive, although the new road bridge is progressing.

[@DaveFiggley]

EWR looking neat and tidy amongst the carnage.

[@theboy-uk]

Yup, I think its just waiting on the Milton Keynes section, then the Oxford to Bedford should be ready to go.

[@DaveFiggley]

@@theboy-ukYeah. It will interesting to see how, eventually, they get the line back into Cambridge. Maybe I'm thinking too far ahead.

[@theboy-uk]

@@DaveFiggley I think a route was proposed, but met too much opposition. So I have a concern it will never happen, especially given how the industry have made such a mess of HS2, lots of investment money is going to be hard to find.

[@DaveFiggley]

@@theboy-ukNo surprise there. Maybe EWR will end up with an Old Oak Common-type fudge whereby the railway stops short of Cambridge and passengers transfer to other means of transport to reach their ultimate destination.

[@theboy-uk]

@@DaveFiggley Sadly, I think that will be the case. Which will potentially impact if people use it, which will impact its viability long term.

[@transylvanianvistas]

Great drone footage and amazing aerial view. 👍👍👍Thanks for sharing. Subbed and Liked.👍👍👍

[@theboy-uk]

Thanks! I've just had a look at yours, and returned the favour, :)

[@ladyintheskyuk]

Brilliant footage 👍👍

[@theboy-uk]

Thank you Lady Flyer UK 👍

[@user-mm4ek2oh9t]

Fantastic video, thanks for sharing 👍

[@theboy-uk]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it 👍

[@MrRichUK]

Thanks for this. I note you say the Bedford-Cambridge section is in some jeopardy. Have you any information on the proposed EWR connection from Aylesbury? I can see the tree line marking the old GCR route and lament the destruction of so many lines that could have been usefully serving a purpose today. Those that are being restored are costing a fortune.

[@theboy-uk]

The link to Aylesbury has been permanently postponed. HS2 are using the route, and don't want to link with EWR. So Aylesbury to Oxford, Bedford or Cambridge will mean a train into London, and back out. Or use alternative forms of transport.

[@Carlos-im3hn]

@@theboy-uk yes, EWR and TRU are not electrified yet either...but maybe soon !

[@theboy-uk]

@@Carlos-im3hn There are no plans to electrify EWR, so will remain DMUs for the next few decades at least. Mind you, if they never do the bit from Bedford to Cambridge, it might not survive too long, sadly. HS2 in its current planned form has no future either, due to the impossibility of hitting the required passenger numbers to be deemed viable.

[@andrewwilliams7613]

Will there be any more chance to the area then before hs2 is ready to use with the road lay out then in this area too then now

[@theboy-uk]

I imagine the next thing to happen is for the road bridge just north of the intersection to be completed and the realigned road to be used.

[@thomaswykes3647]

Looks like an old disused railway line running alongside. The Great Central?

[@theboy-uk]

Correct. HS2 is demolishing what was left of the GCR in this area from near Aylesbury to near Brackley and rebuilding their own unnecessary and expensive abortion on top of it.

[@martinsloman6905]

​@@theboy-ukPossibly because you can't run high speed trains on an alignment designed for steam trains.

[@theboy-uk]

@@martinsloman6905 But it is the same alignment 😉

[@martinsloman6905]

@@theboy-uk Unless the existing line was dead straight and dead level it would be unlikely to share the same alignment given that the GC was probably designed for a maximum speed of 120kph whereas HS2 is designed for 400kph. Even so, you would still have to destroy the old trackbed for the deep cuttings that are a feature of HS2. EWR does not have the same issues. It makes sense to follow an old route as it is an existing line of dislocation -- rather than bisect a field or a housing estate.

[@theboy-uk]

@@martinsloman6905 It doesn't really come out very well from the air, but it is reasonably flat in this area. Flat enough? Who knows, but remember HS2 wanted a totally brand new vanity line ;) As for 400kph, all the HS2 fanatics keep repeatedly saying that HS2 is not about speed, LOL.

[@davidharle952]

Another good one, have the EWR lines just been laid down as they look new? Considering the amount of countryside that's been destroyed I'm having trouble getting my head around how it will look when (if) finished. AND who ends up with the land that has been ripped up that will not be part of the railway when the project is finished. I bet a few MP's have their name down for some of that.

[@mikenorman2525]

The track and ballast on EWR is new but the alignment (including embankments and cuttings) was already there, the original line having being built in the 1800s before being closed by Beeching in the 1960s. That would have created a scar across the landscape too when it was being built but it's all nice and tidy now. HS2 will (eventually) look the same once construction is finished and all the re-greening has been done.

[@martinsloman6905]

If you look on the project plans for HS2, most of the landscaping works will be in the south east corner. There is a large green area described as 'sustainable placement' (not sure what that means although it might refer to excavated material from the Calvert Cutting) and the north east side will be the HS2 infrastructure maintenance depot.

[@theboy-uk]

EWR was the old Varsity Line on this section, and although the track had been removed, most of the route still existed. Some work was needed to bring this back to usability, but mostly it was a case of trackbed and track. HS2 follows the old GCR in this area, but hasn't utilised any of the infrastructure, so remove it and build new. EWR needed little extra land, but HS2 needs vast swathes, that will remain the property of HS2 when construction is complete.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

​@@mikenorman2525.. "re-greening"? You really think that HS2 Ltd give a stuff about the environment given their track record over the last few years? Thousands of trees planted along the route in Warwickshire where the vast majority perished due to lack of aftercare. The pollution of streams, rivers & other waterways with toxic chemicals. The bulldozing of mile upon mile of hedgerows containing nesting birds when they specifically said they'd wait until the nesting season was over .. the list goes on. HS2 is an environmental disaster of epic proportions & Britain's biggest infrastructure mistake in half a century.

[@martinsloman6905]

HS2 is without doubt the greenest major infrastructure project in the nation's history. It's often not clear that the 'vast swathes of countryside' taken for the project are mainly for mitigation works such as wild grasslands, woodland and new wetland habitats - something that has never been done on this scale before. If you look at the completed EWR route you can see how narrow a two track railway actually is. HS2 will be wider (due to higher speed trains needing greater clearances and, in places, to accommodate a single lane maintenance road) but that is only the width of the paving on a dual two lane motorway.

[@davidsedlickas8222]

If it were not for HS2 us poor pensioners could have the tax free allowance limit raised from £12.5k to £17k. I don't like the HS2 project it's a waste of money tax payers money.

[@martinsloman6905]

I'm a pensioner as well but I want to see investment such as this in the future of the country. If people in the past hadn't built canals, railways and motorways that grew the economy, you would have far less pension.

[@_starfiend]

The 'waste' is the fact that this treasonous government cancelled the second part of HS2

[@theboy-uk]

Exactly, there are far better things to waste the limited pot of tax payer funds on, rather than yet another London to Birmingham line that nobody will (or can) use.

[@theboy-uk]

@@martinsloman6905 With limited funds available, there are far better infrastructure projects to spend money on, some that are actually of some use, rather than little more than an (expensive) vanity project.

[@theboy-uk]

@@_starfiend Almost the best thing they could have done. One better would be cancel the whole project, and use the money on needed infrastructure projects, rather than yet another London to Birmingham line, to directly compete with the existing 2 lines going from London to Birmingham that have masses of spare capacity.