HS2 track work consultants: design, interfaces and safety notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Rail engineering consultancies Ayesa Engineering (Spain) and Egis (France) have been appointed to support the Ferrovial Bam Joint Venture in delivering HS2 Track Systems Lots 1–3, part of the £3bn rail systems portfolio. The Ayesa-Egis JV will design and assure complex slab track, tunnel and bridge interfaces, and systems integration across the Track Urban, Open Route Central and Open Route North sections, covering most of the 140‑mile Old Oak Common–Birmingham Curzon Street main line. The move imports Spanish and French high-speed rail practice into HS2 despite Spain’s significantly poorer recent rail safety record than the UK.
Technical Brief
- The appointment of Ayesa-Egis JV follows the selection by HS2 Ltd of Ferrovial Bam as principal contractor for Track Systems Lots 1, 2, and 3, under a contract that forms part of HS2’s wider £3bn rail systems portfolio.
- Ferrovial Bam, a Spanish–Dutch JV, is principal contractor for all three track systems lots.
- Ayesa-Egis JV scope includes assurance of slab track–tunnel–bridge interfaces along the high-speed alignment.
- Engineering support covers Track Urban, Open Route Central and Open Route North, i.e. most of Old Oak–Curzon.
- Systems integration tasks will coordinate track with other rail systems packages across the HS2 main line.
- Role focuses on delivering a resilient, high-performing corridor, implying tight geometry and settlement tolerances.
- Safety context: since 2020, UK rail recorded 6 fatalities and 49 injuries on domestically designed networks.
- Over the same period Spain recorded 54 rail deaths and 430+ injuries, despite lower passenger traffic.
- France logged 140 significant railway accidents in 2024, third highest in the EU by count.
- Importing Spanish and French high-speed practice into HS2 occurs against these contrasting national safety records.
Our Take
Egis’ role on HS2 comes shortly after it moved to merge its UK and Ireland operations under a single managing director (January 2026 coverage), which likely strengthens its ability to resource and govern a complex, multi-lot rail systems package from within the region.
The £3bn wider rail systems portfolio on HS2 sits at the upper end of project values in our 680 Infrastructure stories, signalling that track and systems decisions here will be a reference point for future high-speed upgrades across the UK network.
The comparison of UK, Spain, France and other European rail safety data via Eurostat and the International Union of Railways suggests HS2 Ltd is positioning the Old Oak Common–Birmingham Curzon Street section as a testbed for importing continental high-speed safety practices into the domestically designed UK network.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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