Old Oak Common progresses amidst Euston uncertainty

We are standing in a huge construction site, 16m (52ft) underground in Acton, north-west London, inside what is called "the box".

Huge excavators are removing piles of London clay. This is where the high-speed rail link HS2 will stop initially in London. There will be six 400m-long (1,300ft) platforms here.

On top of that, eight conventional platforms will be built to link to services from the Elizabeth line, the Heathrow Express and Great Western.

The site will eventually be the newest and largest station in the UK and will totally change the area.

Some 24,000 homes will be here as well as a park, retail and offices. It's hoped it'll also create 65,000 jobs.

Old Oak Common could be the terminal for HS2 for nearly a decade.

James Richardson is managing director of Skanska Costain Strabag, who are drilling the tunnels to Old Oak from Ruislip. He says the impact on the area will be huge.

"I think people need to recognise that this is probably going to be similar to what we saw at Stratford with the actual large scale works that happened there.

"I was there and part of the team delivering that. I think what's been great to see afterwards is not just what's happening here in the box in the actual station, but the amount of development and the amount of infrastructure and benefit that has been delivered after that," he explains.

But there are a few very large elephants in the room with the HS2 project.

The main issue is Euston and whether the line will terminate there.

At the moment there isn't clarity about who will pay for tunnelling and the HS2 station which has been mothballed. The government wants private investors to pay. How this will happen, at the moment, isn't clear.

Camden Council has concerns it will lose control over things like affordable housing. The station is currently being redesigned.

If Euston doesn't happen and Old Oak Common becomes the terminal for HS2, it will also have to be redesigned.

So will Euston happen?

Huw Edwards, who is project client director for Old Oak Common, says it has been a difficult few weeks for HS2, but they are focussing on delivery.

"There is minimal change that is brought about by any decisions made in recent days and weeks. We have always been a terminus, a temporary terminus that doesn't change," he says.

"It was always government intention to go into Euston it was a matter of funding and that will be resolved by others.

"I have got no doubts whatsoever that it will get to Euston. A resolution of that issue will come and eventually this railway will go into Euston."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “As has always been planned, the line will finish at Euston. This is a world class regeneration opportunity and there is already extensive support and interest from the private sector to invest.”

Another problem is that the mayor of London and Transport for London both have concerns about capacity on the Elizabeth line.

They say they will need five extra trains to reduce over-crowding from HS2 passengers switching services. The funding for those services isn't certain.

Meanwhile there are also the issues being experienced by local residents. As we have covered on BBC London many times, there has been a lot of disruption to those who live on Wells House Road.

Many there are fed up with the noise and the dust and living next to a construction site. HS2 says it works hard to mitigate those issues.

The station is due to be completed in the 2030s.

This area of London is now facing huge changes. A project the size of a town is slowly taking shape.

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