VINCI Wins 990 Million Euro HS2 Deal Near Birmingham — Un Milliard
VINCI won un milliard euros in a 990 million euro HS2 contract on 13 May 2026, taking on the design and build of the maintenance center and operational control center near Birmingham. The work is tied to Washwood Heath, a 70-hectare former industrial brownfield site that will become one of the line’s operational hubs.
Washwood Heath near Birmingham
50/50, Taylor Woodrow and Aureos Rail are set to deliver the project for the British high-speed rail line. The site will include a maintenance building, a train washing facility, automatic vehicle inspection, storage tracks, a test track, and the control post for the HS2 network.
Nearly 500 jobs are expected during construction, and 1,000 permanent jobs are expected in the longer term. That makes the contract more than a civil engineering award: it fixes the employment footprint of a site that moves from brownfield land to a rail operations base.
HS2's narrowed route
2010 is where the cost story starts. HS2 was then estimated at 33 billion pounds, or 37.8 billion euros, before rising to 71 billion pounds, or 81.4 billion euros by 2019. The project was originally supposed to connect London to Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham, but the British government canceled the entire northern branch in October 2023 and kept only Phase 1 between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham.
2026 is no longer the opening year. The line’s launch is now postponed until at least 2036 and more probably 2039, and Mark Wild, the patron of HS2 Ltd, said in May 2026 that a reliable new schedule would not be available until the end of 2026. For contractors, that means the infrastructure work can keep moving even as the overall timetable stays unsettled.
VINCI's wider HS2 role
VINCI is also part of the Balfour Beatty VINCI consortium, which is responsible for the northern section from the Long Itchington Wood Tunnels to Birmingham, and of BBVS, the Balfour Beatty VINCI Systra consortium, which is building the new Old Oak Common station in west London. The company’s latest award extends that footprint deeper into the operational side of the railway, with Washwood Heath set to become the control and maintenance base for the reduced HS2 network.
