Historic breakthrough for HS2’s longest tunnel

• Giant tunnelling machine – named ‘Florence’ – completes 10-mile drive under the Chilterns in 2 years and 9 months.
• 3 million cubic metres of material excavated from the tunnels to be reused for ambitious chalk grassland restoration project.

HS2’s first giant tunnelling machine – which launched almost 3 years ago – broke through today at the end of her 10-mile (16km) journey under the Chilterns, excavating the longest tunnel on the ambitious new rail project.

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.

more at: https://tunnelcontact.com/discussion/view/55206/historic-breakthrough-for-hs2%E2%80%99s-longest-tunnel-as-tje-giant-tbm-completes-boring-16km-long-tunnel-under-chilterns