HS2 - Old Oak Common Progress - September 2023

In this video we look at the progress made at Old Oak Common, London, along with the conveyor belt system all the way up to Willesden Junction.
Construction Update September 2023.
All footage was captured according to the law at the time of flying.
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[@pedromorgan99]

Thanks

[@nicholassunshine]

Wow, thank you! That is my first ever super thanks!

[@johng5474]

Thanks for the work and explanation of what's going on, much better than HS2 own publicity.

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

It’s an absolute disaster and has run into delays and cost overruns, forcing them to shelve (yet again) plans for a much-needed and long overdue high speed rail tunnel under the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin - even as the Irish government has handled its own rail expansion projects in Ireland way better than the U.K.

[@howardjones6752]

Does HS2 have any publicity that comes close to being as instructive as that put up by KZbinrs ?

[@lukerogers6133]

There is not and was not any project for a link to Dublin from the UK by rail.

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

@@lukerogers6133 it’s not well known about in the U.K., but this was shelved so many times over the years by successive governments on these islands, citing EU funding issues and lack of private investment in addition to government funding - there was an even crazier one that was proposed in Scotland to connect the Isle of Man to both the U.K. and Northern Ireland with a series of tunnels midway under the Irish Sea, with a network of underground junctions to the S of the Isle of Man - its been talked about extensively in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for years, but such a tunnel would (in fairness and long term) be detrimental to the economy of North Wales, as the Port of Holyhead generates a huge amount of trade for the Welsh economy, as I have personally witnessed for myself when passing through Holyhead on my way to/from Ireland/UK

[@nickmagee-brown739]

O.k. here's a quick update for you lot, it's getting cancelled, bulldozed and the land to be sold back to developers. Announcement coming Wednesday.

[@gingertom2355]

The most comprehensive coverage of the OOC site I've seen which helps knit the whole of the HS2 site work together across its vast footprint. Excellent narration as well. look forward to seeing further updates here and elsewhere on the project. Great work.

[@nicholassunshine]

Wow, thank you!

[@steveinanglia4185]

Excellent video , well done. Looking forward to seeing how the work progresses over the next few years.

[@markiliff]

This makes a wonderful change from the baffling jump-cuts with pounding soundtrack but no insight that so many other channels seem to like. Great stuff!

[@nicholassunshine]

Thank you! Much appreciated

[@georgeroybooth3335]

Very good coverage, well done. Doesn’t really look like a hive of activity, little wonder its costing so much.

[@sarahwinfield3989]

When I was in my 20's (I'm now 79) I would listen to the business news. Just so long as our exports exceeded the value of our imports as a country we were in credit. However, looking at the types of equipment being used on this project it appears most of it is made everywhere other than in the UK. No wonder our country is bankrupt and many people are making a killing from us. By the way, excellent quality video.

[@neiljackson3133]

I really enjoyed this. Excellent camera work. I live in nearby in Harlesden and go through the HS2 site a lot on the bus to Acton. Of course we can never see a thing that's going on.

[@nicholassunshine]

Thank you very much! I agree not much of the good work is shown to the public!

[@colingreenwood231]

Excellent, thanks for bringing this video. Amazing logistics on this huge site.

[@nicholassunshine]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@piercelidseveraltime]

Thanks for uploading this !!

[@TonyAbbeyFETraining]

A very good presentation. thanks again for the time and effort you have put into this and the Euston presentation. Please keep them coming - maybe you could head up the line as well to workings further north?

[@nicholassunshine]

Thank you! I would like to head further on up, but my method of transport is a push bike so that I can get to all the areas where it is good to operate a drone from. If I had a car, I'd do that for sure though!

[@TonyAbbeyFETraining]

@@nicholassunshine - I can well understand the bike is more versatile in London. Oh well, I guess hitchhiking with a drone isn't an option!

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

There's this thing called a train

[@blairleipst4508]

Just to let you know that the canal you called The Regents Canal is actually The Grand Union Canal, the Regents Canal is located on the eastern side of London close to Mile End

[@nicholassunshine]

Thank you!

[@srfurley]

It’s actually the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union. The main line of that canal comes down from Birmingham and joins the Thames at Brentford. The Paddington Arm leaves this at Bulls Bridge Junction in Southall and runs East to Paddington Basin. Just before this, at Little Venice, the Regent’s Canal branches off and goes to Limehouse Basin from where there is a connection through Limehouse lock into the Thames.

[@brianlever3767]

Would be nice to see this happening in Manchester

[@garyblore1]

Very interesting to see what Old Oak Common looks like these days. I used to be dragged along to open days at Old Oak Common by my dad when I was a kid, well over 30 years ago. lol

[@johnkeepin7527]

A really good presentation. In particular, the narrative works well with it - as you all know, there is quite a bit of footage about various other sites on this project, with very little of it to explain the geography etc.

[@andrewjameson5918]

Thanks for this video once again, it great ot be able to see behind the hordings

[@donstravelsandrants.]

Very, very interesting. 😲👍😊

[@tomwatts703]

It's good to hear that passive provision is being made for the HS1 link, but it really should've been a no-brainer from the start. Even if it gets built in the future, you'd need purpose-built customs and border facilities at HS2 stations in order to extend international trains past London, and I don't imagine provision is being made for these at the moment.

[@heinkle1]

That would be far too joined up.

[@nickmagee-brown739]

It's getting completely scrapped now so that's not happening, finally, we have a government with the balls to cancel this labour led shambles, get the train from Marylebone if you can't get a seat on Virgin.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

There is no " Passive provision to join up with HS1", the reason, HS1 is an International rail link and HS2 is just a domestic rail line, both use different types of trains and there is no reason to join HS2 to HS1

[@MrMWRMWR]

Thinking just the same. Maybe non-stopping from France to "Lichfield International" which might have space for customs services... give or take the train types😢

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@MrMWRMWRFor a start there won't be a station at Lichfield for HS2 trains

[@simoncroft9792]

Fascinating, the amount of different railway lines running past, across and from the sites are amazing.. thanks a lot

[@nicholassunshine]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@beecee2205]

Old Oak Common, the new central London Terminus of HS2. and by central London we mean Northwest Nowhere.

[@davidbradley6871]

HI NICHOLAS as a LONDONER now located in WEST DEVON i must agree with the many comments on how well you present these video diaries. It is amazing to see the scale of operations being carried out, lets hope the staggering cost is worth it in the end. I hope to get back up to London to ride the ELIZABETH LINE ,but i dought i will see the completion of this project. Will follow your updates with interest , Thank You.

[@nicholassunshine]

Thanks for watching!

[@briansr.5219]

Well made and informative.

[@dgattenb]

awsome vid,, i have a feeling that old oak with become a Stratford international... why start at Euston? when you have more connections here ? shame HS1does does not join up ... that woud be what this country needs... but thats been going since the 90's if only there was a joined plan !!

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

Passive provision? Well, that's good news!

[@thsxi]

For the past year I’ve been biking past that huge construction site and over head conveyer looking think, first time I see it from this angle

[@simoncroft9792]

39:14 looks like they are also bringing in cement as bulk powder into those silos. Those are waggon discharge pipes.

[@simlife2995]

Well i've watched a lot of railway prodjects on here and the only one that comes close to this is 'The Roaming Railfan' who has documented Brightline in Florida, He was noticed and invited in by them and has just been on the first train (with the press) on the line. I hope we can see this happen with you because the level of detail was great. I'm so glad it wasn't one of those frustrating music with no comentary fly-by's lol. Thank you.

[@Narrowboaternumber9]

not Regents canal, Grand Union Paddington Arm!

[@u1zha]

Captivating views of the site, thank you! Curious how the low-rise living quarters will fare, maybe already zoned to get bought out by skyscraper developers?

[@heinkle1]

Take it in - the southernmost HS2 terminus.

[@RitaFarrow]

great content and well delivered, the dirt wagons site ,you would have thought that the belt would along the side of the track and dump straight into the wagons. as the machine can move forward and backwards ,therefore moving sideways would not be a problem,all that is needed is a funnel to sit on top of the wagon, fill it .then remove the funnel then move it to the next one ,job done ,too easy i expect ,it being hs2 and costing a lot of money

[@tomwatts703]

You'd have to build a hopper above the track, and then you'd be constantly stopping the whole conveyor system every time a wagon is full and then shunting an empty one underneath it. Much more of an operational hassle, and I really don't think the engineers chose not to do it that way because it was "too easy".

[@MrPsychomonkey]

tomwatss said you would constantly have to stop and start the system and the yard is acting as a buffer to ensure that the conveyer can operate in continuously and independently of wagons and of the train being there.

[@u1zha]

@@MrPsychomonkey Not true that you would constantly have to stop and start the system. Of course you can have a buffer zone to redirect some to the ground when wagons are being waited for or moved around.

[@u1zha]

​@@tomwatts703 The thing is, the setup was not chosen by engineers but some project lead. Who may or may not have had skewed incentives. Such as, inflating budgets, or creating symbolic jobs for excavator operators where there is no real need.

[@pedromorgan99]

Maybe they want to segragate different material, soild, silt, rock etc

[@TrainDriverRob]

I drive past here every week, you can’t see too much from the cab. I can’t believe this is literally being dug out bucket by bucket!

[@noelhall945]

Like mail from Concorde got delivered by a man on a bike ! Pity the final grading of outfall gets delivered into wagons with a grab bucket in place of a traveling belt.

[@helenejampierremarsh1896]

I helped till the last day deliver the Elizabeth line. Still beleive HS2 should happen. Maybe HS3 first

[@Tobberz]

I wonder if Euston is fully cancelled (as seems to be the grim rumour at the moment) if they'll keep the corridor & provision for future construction, when a future government changes its mind.

[@klingonwarrior1206]

The half hour travelling time saved by the high speed train between London and Birmingham will be eaten up by the travelling time from Old Oak Common to Central London...... 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@Ogrecrusher]

There aren't actually any tunnel machines operating in the caterpillar shaped crossover box yet. Once the box is finished they will be built in there to dig out west.

[@jamesedwards7241]

So after Sunak's announcement, they are now filling in the tunnels?.

[@user-tm2qq5iw6t]

there is a new station going in old oak common station

[@shaddapushaddap]

Shame you didnt pan up more, we would have been able to see way, way in the distance a city called London.

[@ThatVoxelBlock]

the eurostars used to go to North Pole Depot before they went to st pancras

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

North Pole was just a Eurostar Maintenance facility not a station.at this time Waterloo International was the Terminus before transferring to London St Pancras International

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Lots of happy scrappers here. Each to their own of course, but I think that I'd pay more heed to naysayers in general if their criticism were constructive. If they came up with alternative solutions to the problems that still exist if it's just scrapped, wow, grown ups would've returned.

[@helenejampierremarsh1896]

I delivered the Elizath line. I want to do this cancer or not

[@FulhamsEvo10]

Get the bloody thing completed in FULL who the F wants a terminus at Old Oak Common 😆

[@wgavwebmaster5827]

Why don''t the dumper trucks drop their load of soil into a hopper which would then drop onto the conveyer belt - then at the other end why doesn't the conveyer belt then drop their load directly into the trucks below moving at a slow speed - saving the excavator operators at each end - no wonder HS2 is costing so much!

[@CynicalPlatapus]

Well gee if you think you can do it better, why don't you get in contact with HS2 LTD directly, I'm sure they'd love to have your input

[@u1zha]

​@@CynicalPlatapus Why are you so sure they'd love to have rational input? Seriously, the fact that some pointy haired boss chose one or other proposal is _not an argument_, their incentives are various and sadly it's not always to pick the most efficient engineering solution.

[@CynicalPlatapus]

@@u1zha it was obvious sarcasm that the people running a multi billion pound project have obviously put more thought into it than some armchair engineer in the youtube comments

[@wgavwebmaster5827]

The 'armchair engineer' is actually and engineer registered with the Engineering Council ......but you don't have to be an engineer to have a modicum of logic. You want to move spoil from A to B and get it away as quick as possible. You load up dumper trucks (1) who then deposit the spoil in a large heap, the spoil is then picked up by a digger and dumped onto a conveyer belt (2). The conveyer belts then move the spoil and at the end just dump it out into a pile. Another digger then picks it up and loads it onto a railway waggon (3) so we have now used 2 diggers - a cost of both time, diesel and wages. The alternative- get the dumper truck to drop the spoil into a hopper feeding onto the conveyer - conveyer delivers the spoil to tipping point directly into a moving procession of rail trucks below. Using that well known thing called gravity removes the need for two diggers. This was how coal was transported from pits and dropped onto rail trucks and then at the other end, the hopper of the truck was opened allowing the coal to drop onto a conveyor belt and taken directly into the power stations. But of course this is 'old technology' however what is your suggestion then to save costs or is it just easier to poo poo tried and tested ideas ? @@CynicalPlatapus

[@CynicalPlatapus]

@@wgavwebmaster5827 yeah i'm not reading all of that

[@u1zha]

Conveyor belts may run continuously and the hopper may be full, but I'm a bit puzzled why the excavation from the pit itself is not done continuously. How come noone has invented a way to apply bucket wheel excavators in these kinds of build sites, to 5x the speed of excavation, compared to swiveling single bucket back-and-forth. Such a boring job for a human

[@SirKenchalot]

Have you seen the RoamingRailfan's videos on bright line construction; I wonder if you could pick up some ideas from his use of drone footage as it would be great if KZbin recommended these videos more widely so more people could see this.

[@nicholassunshine]

I'll take a look! But here in London I'm quite restrained in what I can do due to the rules

[@SirKenchalot]

@@nicholassunshine Well I'm not so familiar with your laws but from what I see, you can get footage that is more than good enough to give a great insight into the construction process and you provide interesting commentary so I think you have a great chance to grow an audience. And let's face it, with all the delays, you're setup to produce content for decades to come.

[@aviobrain]

what a fxxx pas

[@geoffhines1541]

It is very easy to see why HS2 is costing so much money, why cant the coveyor belt drop the spoil directly into the trucks of the train with an 08 shunter moving the train each time a wagon is filled.

[@johnfrancis4401]

Why does the cost keep rocketing? Why does it cost 6x more to construct railways in the UK than France. Even much more expensive than Norway which tunnels everything. Surely it would be cheaper to tunnel almost the entire length. Going under roads, rivers, gas pipes, sewage pipes, water pipes and electric cables. Tunnels are expensive but the farmland wouldn't be disturbed, homes wouldn't be knocked down, bridges wouldn't be needed etc etc so planning would be much smoother, faster and with less need for appeals and compensation for compulsory purchases.

[@Batteredhoop]

Bet the eco warriors aren’t to happy,diesel trucks,360s,cranes etc,

[@stuartnaylor6472]

No exactly high speed is it :(

[@Lincs_Strong]

Great informative video. Thanks. However, I still think this is an absolute waste of money. It won’t ever make it to Manchester or Leeds. So basically it’s a high speed London to Birmingham line. The only people it will assist is those in the south. Birmingham will become a commuter belt and southerners will benefit from cheaper (than London) house pricing. That’s about it.

[@mariogeis9558]

peanuts

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

On these HS2 sites every man and his dog that lives no where near where HS2 is seems to know every thing about HS2 and passist in a provision for a connection to HS1, why would there ever be a connection to HS1 being an International rail line from the UK to mainland Europe it uses specially desighned trains and no other domestic European train company has run from Eurome to Birmingham or Manchester via the Channel Tunnel, DB tried to run a services from Frankfurt to London but the rules for going through the Channel tunnel are too stringent and it was dropped. The next thing all HS2 is, is a domestic High Speed line between the North West and Birmingham to London to improve train speeds between these two areas thats it and allow more capacity on the Existing southern half of the WCML that is it, any European service from Birmingham or Manchester would be a total waste of time as love flying or not, it is quicker to fly from Birmingham/Manchester to Paris/Berlin than travel by train.

[@nicholassunshine]

Freight.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@nicholassunshine The thing is Freight will never run on HS2, it is only a passenger line, the Freight trains will run on the WCML

[@mach7056]

it's increasingly looking as though this could become the biggest white elephant in modern day history, not to mention biggest waste of tax payers money.

[@johnchristmas7522]

As an example, China has built 26,000 miles of HS Trains in 22years at a cost of £25million per kilometer including viaducts and tunnels. Thats £24billion per hundred miles, whereas HS2 has cost £400 billion to do the same mileage! Something very amiss here. Thats £4billion per mile! Outside of China, across Europe and the USA the highest cost is £59million per kilometer which is £10billion for 100 miles even at twice that price HS2 is the highest costing High Speed rail project in the world. Way way over cost and they haven't even mentioned Maglev. I would estimate at least £200 billion fraud. If you look at any HS2 site there seems to be so little manpowe rand not doing a lot. Its been a con from the outset.

[@TrainDriverRob]

Totally agree, the same applies to every little thing on the railway. £1m buys nothing, every scheme, be it a small signalling alteration or a junction replacement runs to tens of millions of pounds. There’s an awful lot of hanger-ons in the industry with made-up job titles and don’t get me started on the number of project ‘engineers’, everybody is a bloody project engineer 😂

[@EQQI_TOLE]

Conventional trains are better in England, don't follow the example of Indonesia which now has fast trains. only a country with a good economy and stable politics can do it. Indonesia is one step ahead. lol

[@davidowen7793]

Sooner it's cancelled the better 🥺🥺🥺

[@chrisj6321]

Such a waste if it does not go to euston. Would anyone even use it

[@lolorick5885]

This is the biggest waste of tax payers money.........

[@1701_FyldeFlyer]

Scrap it. Biggest waste of money going. To those who say the money spent so far will be wasted if it was scrapped, that's like telling a gambler to carry on gambling when he's losing all his money and try to win it back.

[@chrisredding6673]

I always thought that a freight artery up the old GCR route, and a major upgrade of the Chiltern line would have been better and cheaper.

[@FarnhamTV]

This line nearly happened in the early 2000s but the then labour government buried it completely due to Stephen Byers’ (transport ministers) connections to the road haulage industry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Railway_(UK)

[@petee19]

Problem is there are so many people who just can’t see further than the end of their nose. In 30 or 40 years time people will be only too glad that HS2 was built. No one wanted various motorways built but where would we be without them today, look at the M25 built with three lanes, then increased to four and at times that’s not enough.

[@johnparr5879]

Total waste of huge and ever increased costs.... And tragically a total waste of human... Time... And precious natural resources *.

[@richardwells4370]

Sorry folks, I can’t help but think it’s a complete waste of money we don’t have , and it’s awe full to see how they have destroyed 000’s of acres of country side , 000’s of trees chopped down given half the chance you lot would concrete over the entire UK

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

So much money has already been wasted on HS2, they have reached the point where they can’t turn back now and have to go forward - I’ve always been totally opposed to HS2 from the very start, as it’s only been a vanity project, where the money already wasted could have been better used to improve existing U.K. rail lines and reopen previously closed lines from the Beeching Cuts of the 1960’s that in our times, we have found need to be re-opened given issues around climate change, nor have they improved any other aspects of the UK’s rail infrastructure nor organisation, where bodies like Network Rail are not fit for purpose and the current business model is both unsustainable and needs to be renationalised

[@nickedwards2904]

am confused , is hs2 going into Euston now , i thought i had heard t was only going to OC , yet your other video shows Euston work?

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

It will eventually go into Euston, OOC is not a terminal station but a through station and will not have any space for trains to lay over between turns

[@nickedwards2904]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 yes and OOC does not have the largest amount of sidings right next to the station than any other UK station now does it ? lol