HS2 has invited engineering and environmental consultants to tender for the second phase of the controversial high-speed network.
The bidding process aims to set up a new Professional Services Framework (PSF), which will start work after the Secretary for Transport publishes her preferred route options later this year.
Greening’s recommendations will then form the basis of a public consultation.
Companies including Arup, Mott MacDonald and Parsons Brinckerhoff have been invited to tender.
In a statement, HS2 Ltd said: “This is to help deliver the engineering and environmental work needed to develop Phase 2 of HS2 that links Birmingham to Manchester and to Leeds through the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, as well as a spur connection from the Phase 1 line to Heathrow.”