HS2 tunnelling in the capital passes the first MILEstone

HS2’s first two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) in London, Sushila and Caroline, have completed the first mile of twin bored HS2 running tunnel in the capital. Since launch in November 2022, the 2,000tonne TBMs have both installed over 847 tunnel rings each, made up of 5,929 concrete segments.

The tunnel being constructed by Sushila is the downline and will be where trains travelling south towards London will run once Britain’s new high speed rail line is operational. Caroline is constructing the upline, where trains will travel to the Midlands and North.

Over 240,000 m3 of mixed soil (London Clay, chalk and sand) has been extracted during the tunnelling process so far and is being used north of the tunnel to create new wildlife habitat and landscaping.

The first TBM was named by Dairy Meadow Primary School in Southall after Sushila Hirani, a local teacher with a passion for getting more girls and pupils from BAME backgrounds into STEM. The second TBM, Caroline, named after astronomer Caroline Herschell by Brentside Primary Academy School, was launched shortly after Sushila.

A team of 17 tunnel engineers from HS2’s Main Works Civils Contractor, Skanska Costain STRABAG, has been operating the TBM, working closely with a 60 strong team on the ground.

The 58,000 tunnel segments for this section of the London tunnels are being manufactured by Pacadar on the Isle of Grain in Kent. Recently the delivery of the segments has been by rail to the sidings at the West Ruislip site, reducing lorry journeys on roads.

The SCS JV team are now preparing to begin the construction of cross passages between the two tunnels. The link between the two parallel tunnels will be used in emergencies.
The 8.4mile Northolt Tunnel will be completed with two additional TBMs which will be launched from the Victoria Road Crossover Box in Ealing next winter. All four TBMs constructing the tunnel will end their journeys at Greenpark Way in Greenford where they will be extracted from the ground.

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[radioratUK]

Now that's an impressive drone flight.

[explorer]

Must've been fun to fly that drone inside

[ChristopherTalbot-nc]

Drone photography has opened up so many opportunities for showing progression on infrastructure works. Good bit of flying also.

[owensmith]

Which part of the project is the Northolt tunnel? Not all of us have a map of HS2 in our heads, starting the video with a map of the entire route and an arrow to the part being shown would be very helpful.

[fidoforme]

Agree, great (isolated ) project …

Did anyone else see this report -

“The HS2 rail line has been given an "unachievable" rating by an official watchdog ???

[martinalooksatthings]

Finally a better drone video than mine

[paulprescott]

The navvies who built the tunnels of Stanedge, Totley and the Severn tunnels would be deeply impressed with the TBMs. Conditions worlds apart.

[PetertheRock.]

Excellent news! If only Peter the Rock (me) could come along and film similar for his expanding YouTube channel!

[PepRodeja]

I think you forgot some placeholders in your description 😝

[chish]

Absolutely incredible engineering being done on this project. And mostly done to protect local environments.

[Brookspirit]

Where are they dumping all the spoil? Don't say they are digging another tunnel and putting it down there.

[tedf]

It's a tragedy that all this may come to nothing. After 10 years of haggling, there is no London Terminus. It could take another 10 years to complete the first leg to Birmingham.

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

It's taken 10 months to dig the first mile? They need to get a move on!

[barryjatkinson]

These videos just anger the bulk of the population. They knew all along that it was pointless and now it's official. Billions of pounds wasted and huge swathes of destruction. Criminal.

[Liverpoolbestteamintheworld]

PLEASE DONT CANCEL HS2 I heard that if starker were to be pm he would cancell the project