| HS2 Works Notification: Update on overnight conveyor bridge removal at the West Ruislip site – 14 June to 1 July 2025 Tunnel construction from West Ruislip to Greenford completed in March and works are underway to remove tunneling support structures inside and outside the tunnels. We will be removing the first of the conveyor bridges at the West Ruislip Portal site, next to the Chiltern Mainline railway. Due to the location next to the railway, we need to carry out these works overnight when trains are not running. We will work overnight from 10pm to 5am on 14 June to 20 June, 22 June, 23 June and 28 June to 1 July. We continue to monitor noise, dust and vibration throughout our works to ensure we have measures in place to minimise disruption. Upcoming engagement HS2 Information Hub. Visit us at the portacabin on the right of the West Ruislip Portal entrance, Ickenham Road. Mondays and Wednesdays, 2pm to 4pm. Specific sessions on these works on the following dates: 7 July and 4 August 2025. Virtual Northolt Tunnel 1:1s. Every third Monday of the month. To sign up for a 1:1 meeting, please visit HS2 & SCS Virtual Drop-ins: Hillingdon Northolt Tunnel West Tunnelling Works For further details and copy of notification letter, please follow this link. You can find out more about what is happening in your area using the In Your Area pages of the HS2 website. · New Harvil Road Resurfacing – Full Road Closure – Mon 11/08 to Fri 29/08 (Provisional Dates) he long awaited LBH resurfacing of Harvil Road between the junction with Swakeleys Road and HS2 Gate 1 Site has now been provisionally scheduled to take place from Mon 11/08 until Fri 29/08. This will be a Full Road Closure in place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to get this large area of road completely resurfaced. These are provisional dates that will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks once the Contractor and LBH Highways Team are confident that the works can be completed within this specified timeframe. If these works can be delivered across 19 days it will be a big reduction on the initially quoted 4 week Full Road Closure which would mean less disruption for users of Harvil Road in getting these essential works completed. During the Road Closure access maintained for residents of Harvil Road only during the Road Closure and the U9 Bus will have to be on Diversion. The confirmed dates and the Diversion Route will follow over the next couple of weeks. There is also a scheduled Road Closure of Breakspear Road South from Fri 29/08 at 8pm until Sun 31/08 at 8pm but this will be dependent on LBH completing the resurfacing works by Fri 29/08. New Breakspear Road South Road Closure – Fri 29/08 at 8pm until Sun 31/08 at 8pm HS2/SCS have agreed with LBH that Breakspear Road South will be closed at the Chiltern Railway Bridge from Fri 29/08 at 8pm until Sun 31/08 at 8pm while the Conveyor Bridge that oversails the Highway is removed The Conveyor Bridge carries the Conveyor system that was used to transport the TBM Spoil/Material over Breakspear Road South towards the Treatment Area at Harvil Road Gate 1. Now that both TBMs have completed their tunnelling between West Ruislip and Greenpark Way in LB Ealing the Conveyors are being removed and the Bridges that carry the Conveyor can also be removed. These works will involve laying Matting on the road surface to protect it, then using a Crane to lower the Bridge to ground level before dismantling and removing it. The road would then be cleared with the Matting removed before reopening to the public. This has been scheduled for the last weekend of the school summer holidays and also allows LBH to complete their planned LBH resurfacing works which will close Harvil Road prior to this from 11/08 to 29/08. The Diversion Route has now been confirmed with HS2/SCS and is the usual Diversion via Swakeleys Road, Ickenham High Road, Bury Street, Breakspear Road New Removal of the Concrete Lining around Pond 5 on the SSPA – Mon 23/06 to Fri 19/07 There will be works starting to remove the concrete lining around Attenuation Pond 5 within the SSPA site boundary near Breakspear Road South (Copthall Farm). These works will take place during core working hours (Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm & Sat 8am to 1pm) from Mon 23/06 to Fri 19/07. The removal will be carried out in stages using hydro saw cutting, which helps manage dust during the process. There will also be an increased number of operatives and site vehicles accessing the area via the flood response gate (Copthall Farm HGV entrance). These works are necessary to allow landscaping to begin in that part of the site. The siltbuster system will remain in place throughout to support water management. New Piling and Drainage Installation works for Noise Barrier in West Ruislip Embankment area – 30/06/25 to 27/03/26 From 30/06/25 to 27/03/26 HS2/SCS will be carrying out works for the construction of the Noise Barriers along the HS2 route between the Copthall Tunnel and West Ruislip Portal. These works will be happening during Core Hours only (Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm & Sat 8am to 1pm). The Noise Barriers will be installed in the areas shown in the Red Box on the Map below. HS2/SCS will start by installing Concrete Piles to stabilise the ground, followed by the installation of Drainage Systems. The works will be carried out in 3 Phases: • 30/06/25 to 11/07/25 = Phase 1 – West of the Breakspear Road South to the HS2 Bridge • 14/07/25 to 06/11/25 = Phase 2 – HS2 Breakspear Road South Bridge to HS2 River Pinn Bridge • 22/09/25 to 27/03/26 = Phase 3 – East of the HS2 River Pinn Bridge to West Ruislip Portal |
Ickenham Residents' Association 
I have watched all of these HS2 developments at West Ruislip, from a great distance, now living in rural Scotland, I left Ickenham as teenager in 1972, but had spent many pre-teen hours at the Pinn River bridge, on what was then called ‘The New North Line’ watching the last days of steam, and the arrival of the new diesels rushing past in 1964-5.
I only read, years later, that that frantic busy period on the old GW-GC Joint line was because a lot of WCML trains, were being re-routed from Paddington because of of electrification works out of Euston.
Between the rate of progress towards an operational HS2 service, and the Grim Reaper, staking my 70’s, I’m not sure if a return trip, south, to stand beside the purple brick viaduct will be real or ghostly.
An Ickenham Lad.
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