Network Rail High Speed

If you’ve travelled on the UK’s only true high-speed railway, High Speed 1 (HS1), then you’ve travelled on tracks operated, maintained and renewed by us at Network Rail High Speed (NRHS).

We are a wholly owned subsidiary of Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd and have an agreement with our client HS1 Ltd. to manage their HS1 route infrastructure and three of their four stations: St. Pancras International, Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International.

Through our business model we work consistently to prove ourself as a quality provider to HS1 Ltd, from reliability to value for money, and we work day in and day out to deliver on our vision, for everyone to love high speed rail.

Our people

We’re a team of close to 500, working along the HS1 route in London and Kent. Our teams operate, maintain and renew HS1, working in roles across customer service, our station control rooms, our signalling centre, maintaining and renewing our railway infrastructure, safety specialists, engineers, and our finance and business support functions. We work around the clock to deliver high quality and reliable high speed rail in the UK.

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The HS1 rail line

HS1 is a 109km rail line between St. Pancras International Station in London and the Channel Tunnel. The line supports high speed domestic routes from London throughout Kent, and international routes connecting London to Paris, Lille, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Our train operators

Our train operators are Eurostar and Southeastern which run on HS1 tracks, and we also have relationships with East Midlands Railway and Govia Thameslink Railway who access St. Pancras International Station, as well as freight companies GBRF and DB Cargo.

How we work

We operate to different standards to the rest of Network Rail, for instance we have our own safety management system and our own track safety qualification. We also do the majority of our maintenance and renewals work at night because the speed of the trains on HS1 make it unsafe to work while the line is open.

Safety

We work closely with our local communities to promote safety by the railway, including work on educating against and preventing trespass and promoting safe travel behaviours.

Projects

In April 2020 we entered our third five-year control period (CP3), which saw a shift in our focus from operating and maintaining the HS1 infrastructure, to now including planning and delivery of major renewal works and projects over CP3.

Although the HS1 infrastructure is still relatively new, in recent years the need for renewal works has increased as the asset ages.

Throughout CP3 we have been working closely with HS1 Ltd, our train operating companies and stakeholders to deliver renewals on the high speed line that minimise disruption for our passengers and keep trains running on time.

LET Project

In 2022, we started a three-year project to renew our lifts, escalators and travellators to make moving through our stations easier and safer for our passengers.