HS2’s first giant tunnelling machine broke through today at the end of her 10-mile (16km) journey under the Chilterns.
The enormous 2,000 tonne Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), named ‘Florence’, is one of 10 machines excavating the 32 miles of tunnel on the new railway linking London Euston with Birmingham and was the first to launch, in May 2021.
The breakthrough is a major milestone for the HS2 project, which will almost halve journey times between Britain’s two largest cities, while freeing up space for more local services on the most crowded part of the existing West Coast Main Line.
Two identical TBMs were used to create the twin-bore Chiltern tunnel, which stretches from the South Portal near the M25 to South Heath in Buckinghamshire.
Parallel tunnels will carry north and south bound trains with a second TBM, named ‘Cecilia’, due to breakthrough in the coming weeks.
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