The House of Commons Select Committee on the High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Bill published its final report on February 22, with recommendations including a longer tunnel in the Chilterns, changes to the maintenance depot at Washwood Heath (Birmingham), and better noise mitigation at Wendover.
The report details changes made to HS2’s route since the initial bill and explains how the committee dealt with almost 1,600 petitions.
Noise concerns comprised much of the committee’s work, but it concluded: “We do not agree that HS2 Ltd has set the thresholds too high, particularly as mitigation will be applied on the basis of modelling that assumes a reasonable worst case. Averaged noise level of 65dB is not high.”
The final conclusion is positive: “HS2 will profoundly transport this country’s railway network.”
- For more on this story read RAIL 795, published March 2.
Mark Rand - 25/02/2016 09:29
When we did our Settle water tower conversion we were required to say what steps we would take to mitigate train noise. Replied that around here train noise was referred to as music. Didn't hear any more about it.