Booth Industries has completed the first of 300 safety-critical cross-passage doors for the HS2.
The cross-passage doors will play a crucial role in the safe and reliable operation of the railway by separating northbound and southbound tunnels and providing access in an emergency.
The doors must withstand significant pressure changes caused by trains passing at high-speed, as well as extreme heat in the event of fire in the tunnel.
HS2 says lessons learned from other tunnel cross-passage doors have been incorporated into the design, helping drive a more consistent approach to standardised doors and sub-systems. This supports greater efficiency through manufacturing, installation and commissioning, and improves consistency across the railway.
Over the coming years, Booth will manufacture and install the doors. The purpose-built 600m2 facility opened in 2021 sits alongside the company’s main factory in Bolton.
HS2’s head of delivery tunnels and lineside M&E, Qasir Raza, said it was good to see the first cross-passage door come off the production line.
“This is a key milestone as we start to transition from civil engineering to installation of the critical systems needed to operate the railway,” he said.
“The cross-passage doors being a key component of the tunnels may not be visible to passengers, but they will play a crucial role enabling us to run a fast, reliable and safe service, day in, day out.”
HS2 has five deep, twin-bore tunnels between London and the West Midlands covering more than 43.5km in total – the longest of which is the 16.1km Chiltern tunnel. There are also five cut-and-cover tunnels which total just over 8km in length.
Cross-passages will link the northbound and southbound tunnels with sliding doors at either end. Shallower cut-and-cover tunnels will also have emergency walkways, but just one door linking the two tunnels.
Weighing around 600kg each, the doors will be fitted with a finely balanced counterweight system to allow them to be opened and closed easily during an emergency.
Following a successful trial installation in the Chiltern tunnel, lessons learned are now being applied to the wider HS2 programme.
Booth will also manufacture safety doors for HS2’s Old Oak Common station in West London and other main works civil tunnel assets across HS2.
