High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd has announced that it will be hosting a pre-procurement industry day for GBP 3.5 billion (USD 4.3 billion) Phase 2a of High Speed 2 rail project for works and design packages. The industry day will be held on 8th of October in Birmingham.

Interested firms must register here. The closing date for registrations is midday Friday 27th September.

HS2 Ltd would like to re-engage with the market and outline the delivery strategy for Phase 2a through a Design and Delivery Partner (DDP) and Works contracts as advertised in the PINs. These contracts will be separate procurements. The value for design and delivery contracts would be "roughly GBP 300-500 million (USD 374-623 million)" while the values of 7 works packages have not been established yet.

HS2 is a planned high-speed railway which will initially link the cities of London and Birmingham, followed by further extension to North West England and Yorkshire. Phase 2a of the project forms the first 57km section of the western leg of HS2 Phase 2 which would connect Birmingham with Crewe.

The HS2 project has been under concern since the government has launched a review on the cost of the project. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said earlier that the government needed "clear evidence" to be able to approve the project. The review will examine whether the HS2 project should be approved, modified or canceled. The review is not expected to be released before the end of October.

The original project cost was estimated at GBP 56 billion (USD 70 billion). But the chairman of HS2 said that the project could not be completed within this budget and that GBP 72-75 billion (USD 89-93 billion) range would be more realistic.

The scope of works for Phase 2a is:

• bored tunnel 2,5 km,
• viaducts: 7 km,
• embankments: 19 000 000 cubic meters (m3),
• cuttings: 20 000 000 m3,
• structures, overbridge and underbridges: 42 number,
• a combined infrastructure maintenance depot/railhead.