CH2M has been confirmed as phase two overall development partner on the route from Crewe to the North.

The US giant will work with three design consultant consortia also just named, which include teams from Arup, AECOM/Capita/INECO and Mott MacDonald/WSP.

Contracts will be signed after February 20 with staff joining the Hs2 team soon after.

The appointments are a major milestone for the high speed rail project and come after an 11 month competitive process, during which seven multi-national bidders were invited to tender for four packages of work.

Together, they will provide the expert engineering and environmental support needed to take forward the development of the route to allow a hybrid Bill  to be presented to Parliament in 2019.

The government gave the go ahead for the sections of the route, between Crewe and Manchester, and Birmingham and Leeds, via Sheffield and the East Midlands, subject to some specific route refinements which are under consultation, in November last year.

The dedicated high speed lines are planned to open in 2033, providing extra capacity between the UK’s largest cities, improving connectivity and reducing journey times.

HS2 managing director – Development, Alison Munro said: “These contracts mark an important milestone for HS2 – giving us the expert resource needed to progress the second phase of the project and bring high speed rail to Manchester and Leeds by 2033.

“Our new partners bring a wealth of recent experience on some of the world’s most challenging and complex infrastructure projects and I look forward to working with them to ensure that HS2 can benefit from the experience and innovation they have to offer.”