The first of two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) building the HS2 route to Euston, forming the Euston tunnel, has begun its 7.2 km (4.5 mile) journey from Old Oak Common, a station located in west London.
The Madeleine TBM was manufactured by Herrenknecht in Germany and shipped to the UK in 2024, before being lowered and reassembled inside the huge underground box at Old Oak Common station. Over the past 12 months, engineers from the Skanska Costain Strabag (SCS JV) consortium, the contractor responsible for the HS2 tunnels in London, have been working to prepare the equipment for the drilling mission.
The machine will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to excavate, install the concrete ring segments that form the tunnel walls, and secure them by grouting as it advances at an average speed of approximately 16 meters per day.
Drilling operations for the Euston tunnel are supported by a separate logistics tunnel, completed in January 2024. It is 853 meters long and will allow work crews to access both boring machines, transport construction materials, including a total of 48,294 concrete ring segments, and remove over 1.5 million tons of excavated material.
The Euston Tunnel will complete the approximately 44.3 km of deep-bored tunnels on the HS2 route between London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street. To date, approximately 37 km of tunnels have already been completed, with the last tunnel boring machine involved in the construction of the Bromford Tunnel finishing its work in October last year.
On January 27, Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones, and HS2 CEO Mark Wild officially commissioned the 1,624-ton machine at Old Oak Common station, marking the start of the HS2 route’s underground journey to Euston.
The launch of the TMB at Old Oak Common “is a remarkable event, not only because it is an impressive engineering achievement, but also because it brings the HS2 project one step closer to becoming a reality at Euston,” said the Minister of Transport.
The construction of the new Euston station will be coordinated by a new dedicated delivery company, the Euston Delivery Company. Once established, it will be responsible for delivering an integrated and accessible transport hub, which will include the new HS2 station, the redevelopment of the existing station, the modernization of the London Underground station, and commercial developments across the entire Euston site.
HS2 recently completed construction of the longest tunnel on the high-speed line, measuring 16 km in length. The HS2 line will be opened in stages, with the first services operating between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street. The extension of HS2 to Euston will take place at a later stage, which is essential to achieve maximum capacity and reap the full economic benefits that this project can offer.
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