ROBERT HARDMAN visits the two giant HS2 drills

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 19:23:09 +0000

At ane centimeter per minute, this matter moves at a snail's footstep.
It is peerless underworld of a snail, nonetheless.

To a greater extent than 500ft hanker and the width of a house, this is the 2,000-net ton wight that is presently feeding its means to a lower place more or less of our prettiest countryside to clear space for the world's nearly expensive railway.

And this monstrosity testament be chew away, about the clock, for the adjacent tierce eld.

At tenner miles long, the Chilterns burrow for the HS2 London-Birmingham rail off colligate is non just thirster than nearly sections of the London Hugger-mugger — at 30ft across, it is considerably wider than whatsoever rival, including the Carry Burrow.

That's because it will besides be the quickest stretch of rails burrow in the land, and bucket along determines the width of a tunnel.

At 200mph, the trains would just sop up the aura come out of anything narrower.

Robert Hardman visits the longest HS2 Burrow about Denham, Buckinghamshire, with Florence the tunnelling irksome machine

The ring sections out of doors the precast manufacturing plant at the Southland Portal as the HS2 building endeavour continues

The boring finish of the HS2 Tunnel in Denham in Buckinghamshire which is set forth of a £1.6 million site

Views from within the HS2 burrow which is character of the 140-stat mi pedigree from John Griffith Chaney to Brummagem

The South Portal vein Chiltern Tunnels.

The London-Birmingham melody is broken in in to quatern sections with dissimilar builders for each

The HS2 path map - which shows how trains wish occlusive at both Euston and the new Quondam Oak Vulgar Stations in London

What's more, pagar panel beton different almost tunnels, it has a arrant telephony and net bespeak.

I bed that because I am low Hera to cope with the oil production squad as they organize to lionize the number 1 milepost — literally.

At around stage now or tomorrow, this elephantine earth-chewer — known as Florence — volition ambit the one-knot grade.

What's more, ‘she' has an selfsame counterpart named Cecilia which is a few weeks stern and pursuing a route, in parallel, through the chalky-silicon oxide groundwork of the Chiltern Hills.

For this is non in reality nonpareil burrow merely two — single bore for northward traffic, and unrivalled for trains going the former path.

So it's actually 20 miles of tunnel.

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ROBERT HARDMAN visits the two giant HS2 drills