A Chinese joint venture has been shortlisted along with two other bidders to operate phase one of HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham. This is the first time a Chinese entity has been shortlisted for a British rail project.

State-owned Guangshen Railway has allied itself with Hong Kong MTR (UK), a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s MTR Corp, for its bid to operate the line under the joint venture MTR West Coast Partnership Ltd.

Guangshen Railway is a subsidiary of Guangzhou Railway, and currently operates the Shenzhen – Guangzhou – Pingshi line in China. The bid also includes subcontractors Deloitte, Panasonic, Snowfall (a Swedish travel software company), and Trainline.com.

The other two bidders are First Trenitalia West Coat Rail, a joint venture between FirstGroup’s First Rail Holdings and Italian state operator Tenitalia SpA; and West Coast Partnership Ltd, a joint venture between Stagecoach Group, Virgin Holdings, and SNCF C3, a subsidiary of French national railway group.

They are bidding to operate the existing West Coast Line and phase one of HS2, which will run between London and Birmingham, providing quicker access for northern cities to access London and the Channel Tunnel to France. The second phase of HS2 will run north from Birmingham, and have two forks to Manchester and Leeds. The project is deemed controversial by some due to its high cost and the possibility of bulldozing homes to make way for the new rail line.

Euston station, planned London terminus of HS2. Photo: mattbuck/Wikipedia

"The West Coast Partnership will support growth and better services on the West Coast main line while helping to ensure that HS2 becomes the backbone of Britain's railways,” comments British transport secretary Chris Grayling. “This will create more seats for passengers, improve connections between our great cities, free up space on existing rail lines, and generate jobs and economic growth throughout the country."

Construction work on a previously announced line, the new east-west Crossrail commuter line across London, is already well advanced, and will open under the name the Elizabeth Line in December 2018 (previously referred to as Crossrail 1). The line will provide a direct connection between Heathrow Airport and the Canary Wharf business district.

Only weeks after announcing the shortlist, the UK government also gave the green light to plans to build yet another major rail infrastructure project – a north-south Crossrail commuter line (Crossrail 2) through London costing 30 billion pounds.