High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway system in the United Kingdom.

Currently under construction, the first phase will connect London to Birmingham, with a total length of 176 kilometers.

This will be the second major high-speed rail line in Britain, after the 108-km High Speed 1 (HS1) line opened in November 2007.

One of the largest construction sites of this project is at Long Itchington Wood, where a 1-mile twin bore tunnel is under construction.

In order to launch the tunnel boring machine (TBM) a one-square-kilometer north portal site have been prepared, requiring a large and deep excavation, with 250,000 cubic meters of material being excavated in layers, before being transported and deposited locally to form environmental embankments for the main line.

The decision of building the tunnel has been taken in order to preserve a section of ancient woodland at Long Itchington Wood.

Dextra has supplied almost 20,000 Griptec standard and position couplers in diameter 12mm to 40mm for the connection of steel rebars in diaphragm walls, pile caps and portals. Griptec connection is made from the connection of one male and one female sleeve, both extruded onto the rebar.

In the first phase of the construction, the female sleeves were installed at the top of the diaphragm wall, and then connected to the male sleeves on L-shaped bars in the roof slab through position assembly, which is the splicing method used when both rebars cannot be rotated, to reinforce the connection to pile caps.

In the third phase, the couplers were used as a crown beam, connecting via lap length to the bent bars of the second phase.

Upon its completion in 2022, this world-class high-speed railway system will drastically improve connectivity across the Midlands and beyond.

Source of images: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6776829261971021824/, https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/first-reveal-of-hs2s-extensive-long-itchington-wood-tunnel-north-portal-site-in-warwickshire, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCc1sKCeAxA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfu2AuacPKc