HS2 has revealed the first six completed platforms at Old Oak Common station in west London, marking progress on the underground superhub.
The 450m platforms sit within the underground station box and will serve HS2’s fleet of high-speed trains running between London and the West Midlands, as well as destinations further north via the West Coast Main Line.
HS2’s station construction partner, Balfour Beatty VINCI SYSTRA (BBVS), oversaw the work through its sub-contractor Expanded, which began in April 2025.
The team first built 1.59m-high invert walls, cast in situ, before lifting pre-cast platform slabs into position on top. The slabs were manufactured by Explore in Worksop, East Midlands. In total, 1,946 slabs were installed, each measuring up to 2m by 4m and weighing between four and five tonnes.
Construction progressed concurrently from each end of the platforms before meeting in the middle, forming three island-style blocks. A void beneath the platforms allows for services, including electricity, to be installed.
Further fit-out work will now take place, including the construction of staff and equipment rooms. Steelwork for lifts and escalators will be installed on the platforms, with floor finishes to follow once other elements are complete.
A further eight platforms will be built at ground level at Old Oak Common, served by the Elizabeth line, Great Western Mainline and Heathrow Express. The station will be the 42nd stop on the Elizabeth line and will connect to more than 100 destinations.
Kim Kapur, HS2’s Old Oak Common area director, said: “Going into the underground box at Old Oak Common, you can immediately visualise how it will look as an operational station, including where passengers will board or alight HS2’s brand new trains. The scale of the work – and the station now taking shape – is remarkable.
“However, there is much more to do. This includes construction of the conventional, surface level platforms, completion of tunnels either side of the underground box and installation of the impressive station roof, which will begin next year.
“Old Oak Common will be transformative for the local area, providing a new transport hub, with a new vibrant neighbourhood developing around it.”
Steve O’Sullivan, project director at the Balfour Beatty VINCI SYSTRA joint venture, said: “This achievement reflects the expertise of our multidisciplinary teams who have worked collaboratively to deliver one of the most technically challenging stations currently being built in the UK, drawing on world-class engineering, specialist knowledge and a shared commitment to excellence.
“As the full scale, form and function of the station is starting to come into view there is a tremendous sense of pride in what has been accomplished so far to transform an ambitious design into a functioning transport hub, with our focus now on progressing works into the next phase.”
HS2’s chief executive, Mark Wild, is continuing to lead a reset of the project, with a new programme of work being developed and agreed. At Old Oak Common, HS2’s London tunnels contractor, Skanska Costain STRABAG, is due to break through the west wall of the underground box shortly, connecting the station to the Northolt Tunnel and the wider HS2 route to the north.
Work also continues on the Euston Tunnel to the east of the station, which will eventually connect Old Oak Common with HS2’s central London terminus. Two tunnel boring machines were launched from the station box at the start of this year and are expected to complete the journey to Euston in 2027.
Work to build the overground platforms is ongoing, with the first slabs due to be installed later this year. Construction of the station’s roof is due to begin early next year.
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