High Speed Rail (HS2) Project: Management, Risk & Stakeholder Analysis

This project report provides a detailed analysis of the High Speed Rail Line (HS2) project in the UK, an ongoing engineering endeavor to construct a high-speed railway between London, Birmingham, and other key regions. The report covers the project's need and scope, including its phases, objectives, and the debates surrounding its environmental and financial sustainability. It delves into the major requirements, such as parliamentary approvals and sustainable practices, and presents a work breakdown structure to illustrate the project's various activities. Furthermore, the report identifies and analyzes potential risks, like government approval delays and on-site accidents, and includes a Gantt chart for major activities. A stakeholder map categorizes stakeholders based on their power and interest, and the project team structure is evaluated for its effectiveness. The report also includes a discussion of motivating factors and a closure summary. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and past papers for academic support.

Project Management

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Brief outline regarding the need and scope of project.................................................................1
Major requirements of the project...............................................................................................2
Work breakdown structure..........................................................................................................3
Analysis of risk involved.............................................................................................................3
Gantt chart for major activities as well as network analysis.......................................................4
Stakeholder map for the project including detailed description of stakeholders.........................6
Project team structure an evaluation of its effectiveness for the project.....................................8
Memorandum to senior manager regarding progress and status of project...............................10
Analysis of motivating factor for the chosen project.................................................................11
Closure summary for the project report.....................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project management can be understood as a practice which aid managers to lead their
work for attaining objectives or goals within presented constraints (Aanbari and Kwak, 2018).
Information regarding project management is usually documented at the initial level of
development process. Primary constraints that can be faced by managers in managing the project
are time, budget and other related issues which can essentially hamper their productivity in an
effective manner. Areas which are essentially concerned with project management practices are
scope, time, quality, communication and human resources in a strategic manner. Effective
project management can be managed through effective, clear and organised plans as well as
focus on maintaining proper communication among differential stakeholders. This project report
talks about real life ongoing project which is based on High Speed {HS2} in UK. It is an
engineering project which is performed for constructing a high speed railway for stretching a
new track between London and Birmingham. East Midlands and West England. This rail line
project covers three states in United Kingdom which consists of London, Birmingham and
Manchester. This project report comprises of work breakdown structure, Gantt chart and
evaluation of varied risks in regards with this chosen project of High Speed Rail line at UK.
MAIN BODY
Brief outline regarding the need and scope of project
Chosen real life project title is High Speed Rail Line (HS 2) for completing this report in
an effective manner. Scope of this project is that it will have two classes of trains which are
capable of operating on the rail line with a speed of 400 km/hr. This project will be completed
into three phases whereby one stage is under construction which has been built between London
and West Coast. This project began in 2020 when workers start with tunnelling processes at the
Chiltern Hills for first time. Construction of phase 2a has begun from Lichfield and existing rail
line at Crewe station. This project needs a parliamentary approval for starting the construction
processes at phase 2b. This project has gain support as well as oppositions from many people.
Supporters of this project believed that it can cater diverse needs of passengers by providing
them efficient trips through modal shift towards rail line (Abyad, 2018). At the contradictory to
this, opponents of this project asserts this as neither environmentally friendly nor financially
sustainable.

In 2019, in response to the faced criticism, government of UK has ordered to review its
infrastructural designs. This criticism is particularly based on the construction designs which can
integrate this project with Northern Powerhouse Rails. This project will develop a strong link
among London and other cities of Midlands which is aimed to cut the journey time of the
passengers and aid in increasing capacity (Buganová and Šimíčková, 2019). However it faces
varied delays in regards with exacting their routes as well as spiralling cost. This project has
aimed to create more jobs at UK which can leverage economy rates in a significant manner. It is
needful in United Kingdom to increase the capacity of passengers as well as reducing the
distance between the cities of UK like London, Manchester and Midlands and many more. This
is also considered as essential as it has generated massive employment in UK for skilled as well
as less-skilled workers.
Major requirements of the project
High Speed Rail Line (HS 2) is a high speed rail mile which will run through varied
states of United Kingdom. It is considered as most substantial infrastructure in regards with
making transportation practices easier and fast. It is required for creating effective linkage
between differential cities as well as regions. This project will decrease the journey time among
large cities of UK which led in creating large economic benefits. This project has completed its
first phase which is essentially covers engineering, design as well as sustainability aspects which
led them to build their infrastructure successful (Chawla and et.al., 2018). Main requirements for
this project is competent company which can complete the project in a given timescale. This also
permissions from parliament as well as royal house for initiating it again. This project is required
to be completed in several phases whose legal bill or order is to presented to parliament and
house of common for taking their permissions in a strategic manner. This project will solve
varied issues relating to covering longer distance. Under this project, a set of five trains will pass
per hour through new interchange which is nearby Birmingham Airport. It also includes an
automated mover which have the ability to take 2100 passengers an hour while considering a
long route of 2.3 Km. This project has built with the requirement of sustainable as well as
environmental-friendly practices in a strategic manner.
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Work breakdown structure
Work breakdown structure refers to a process which bifurcates varied activities of a particular
task in order to complete it in a strategic manner (Chofreh and et.al 2019). Work breakdown
structure of High Speed Rail Line Project are as follows:
Figure 1: Self-created Work Breakdown structure for HS2 Project. 2022
(Source: Self-created Work Breakdown structure for HS2 Project. 2022)
Analysis of risk involved
Project managers of High Speed Rail Line has to analyse varied risks during completion
of project. Varied risks that can be faced by managers of HS 2 project are as follows:
Government approval- Project managers of HS 2 are facing issues regarding the approval
of government as well as House of Royals as it takes a lot of time in this procedure.
Loss of equipments- This can be be a vital risk which can be faced by project managers
of HS 2 in a significant manner as it is a big project where these risks are very common. It needs
a proper strategy formulation which aid project managers to curb the risk.
On-site accidents- It is a crucial risk which is essentially faced by project managers in
regards with construction. This can be curb by project managers by having an access to
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knowledge of using security measures and protocols as well as make compliance with
government regulations.
Lack of proper planning- This risk is faced by project managers of High Speed Rail Line
as they have to change their plans in regards with stoppage of project due to global pandemic.
Gantt chart for major activities as well as network analysis
Gantt chart refers to technique which bifurcates varied activities which makes the work
simpler and easier in an effective manner. Gantt Chart of High Speed Rail Line (HS 2) project
are as follows:
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Stakeholder map for the project including detailed description of stakeholders
In order to assess insights regarding stakeholder and their stake in the project of High
Speed Rail Line (HS 2), project managers can apply stakeholder analysis.
Stakeholder analysis can be termed as a practice which involves identification,
ascertainment and prioritization of the people who are essentially gets affected by the project or
business operations in a significant manner (Hair and Sarstedt, 2021). In nutshell, it is a process
of identifying and grouping varied stakeholders as per their interested priorities for completion of
the project. It is performed by project managers to enlist varied organisational players whose aid
is necessary for the project. It also aids in determining the interests of varied stakeholders on an
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early basis in order to avoid conflicts afterwards. Varied elements of stakeholder analysis in
relevance with HS 2 project are as follows:
High power, high interest- Under this category, most significant stakeholders old their
positions as they have high power as well as interest in project development (Ika and et.al.,
2020). Organisational managers need to give them utmost priority by providing them every detail
regarding progress of project effectively. In relevance with HS 2 project, these stakeholders
comprise of department for transport, local councils and residents which have high power and
interest in this project as they have invested their resources in this.
High power, low interest- Stakeholders under this category are needed to keep satisfied
by the project managers due to their high interests. However, due to their low interest in the
project they can be ignored by the organisations. In context to HS2 project, these stakeholders
encompass of regulatory agencies and government parties. As they have high power in making
any restrictions for the project managers of HS2. However, their interest is limited to the extent
where this project has adopted any malpractice.
Low power, high interest- Stakeholders who hail in this category have low power and
high interest in development activities of project (MüllerDrouin and Sankaran, 2019). It is
imperative to check them on a timely manner as they possess high interest in project. In relation
to HS 2, these stakeholders essentially consist of engineers, contractors and raw material
suppliers who have low power as they cannot make any critical decision regarding project.
However, they are keenly interested in development of project as they get their salaries and
wages on the basis of its timely completion.
Low power, low interest- These stakeholders does not have any power nor any interest in
the project development. These need to be kept informed on a periodical basis by the project
managers. In relation with HS 2 project, these stakeholders consist of railway industry and other
rail networks. These have low power in curbing the work of HS 2 rail line and less interested in
the project.
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Figure 2 HS2 Stakeholder analysis. 2022
Source: HS2 STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS. 2020
Project team structure an evaluation of its effectiveness for the project
The project of HS2 currently employs around 1500 people with major workforce working
at headquarter in Birmingham. The significant people of board are chief executive officer, chief
financial officer, technical service delivery director and HR director. The role of board is to
make sure effective governance of firm so that they can form decisions at right time and can
carefully handle risks. They monitor performance and threats, form choices on their priorities
and oversee robust relationship with stakeholders and partners. The team structure of project is
functional where key people are assigned as head of major department and their duties are to
allocate further work to their team members. They are grouped on basis of individual’s specific
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skills, knowledge and expertise. It is a vertical structure where each department have their own
roles as well as duties and governed by owner. In project HS2, team structure is divided into
functional form so that each member working on project can do their best. The key people are
Mark Thurston who is chief executive and Amy Morley who is chief of staff. They assigned
project tasks into various departments.
These department consists of human resource which is governed by Neil Hayward. Under
this department, Hayward further controls head of reward, skills, employee relations and
resourcing. Next is finance department which is governed Michael Bradley who acts as finance
director. Another department is operations which is headed by Richard Robinson who is chief
operating officer and oversees procurement and supply chain, commercial development, land and
property. Another department is infrastructure which is governed by Chris Rayner who is
responsible for activities of chief engineers, design director, innovation head, railway operations
director and asset management. Next department is safety and assurance which is headed by
Emma Head who governs activities of chief security officer, head of quality, assurance and
corporate head of occupational health.
Functional organisation of team is best for project HS2 as it is a big project involving
huge number of activities on daily basis. This is essential that key people ensures that every task
has been completed on time and without wasting any resources which assists in achieving
specialisation in work (NijhuisVrijhoef and Kessels, 2018). This structure allows head of
department to look after tasks that took place in their area of expertise. This helps in improving
productivity and performances of all employees working on the project. It helps in minimising
work burden on top executives and facilities them to look after major decision of project.
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