By rosebell
Due to commencing the 7.3km journey from Old Oak Common by the first of two TBMs building the HS2 route to Euston, HS2 started its advance into central London on 27 January 2026.
The process of turning on the 1,624-tonne machine at HS2’s Old Oak Common station in west London, starting its 7.3km journey under the capital to Euston, was done by Rail minister Lord Peter Hendy and chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones.
Being located between central London and Birmingham, the Euston Tunnel is the fifth and final deep twin-bore tunnel on the 225km HS2 route.
2024 was the date of shipping TBM Madelaine, that was manufactured by Herrenknecht in Germany, to the UK before being reassembled in the underground station box at Old Oak Common. Responsibility of preparing the machines for their tunneling mission over the past 12 months was up to engineers from HS2’s London tunnels contactor, Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV).
While the scheduled date for launching the second TBM, named Karen, is about a month’s time, these two TBMs are due to progress up to 150m a week, working at depths of 35-40m. They are expected to reach the Euston Cavern by late June 2027.
Allowing the tunneling team to access both machines, delivering construction materials including a total of 48,294 ring segments, and removing over 1.5 million tonnes of excavated spoil, the tunneling operation for the Euston Tunnel is being facilitated by the 853m Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel which was completed in January 2024.
Through a conveyor, all the excavated material will be taken to the London Logistics Hub at the Willesden Euro terminal Depot and from there it will be transported by rail for reuse in projects in Kent, Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire.
According to SCS JV managing director Richard Adams: “Our tunnel segments and excavated material will all be transported by rail and managed through our state-of-the-art logistics hub. This will remove over 70,000 lorry journeys the local road network, emphasising our commitment to being a good neighbour and greener construction. SCS JV has already driven 8.4 miles (13.5km) of twin bore tunnels under London, from West Ruislip to Old Oak Common, and our expert teams on site will work 24/7 to deliver these final HS2 tunnel drives with the highest levels of safety and productivity.”
The tunnel alignment will take the TBM beneath the final resting place of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Kensal Green cemetery.
The first TBM launched has been named after the former president of the Women’s Engineering Society, Madeleine Nobbs. She lived from 1914-1970 and worked as a building services engineer.
While HS2 is at an advanced stage of a comprehensive reset led by HS2 CEO Mark Wild, the TBM launch comes and on his first day at HS2 he unveiled the Euston TBMs.
“Over the past 12 months, I have been leading a comprehensive reset across HS2 to get it back on track and I am confident that we’re on the right path to delivering HS2 safely and efficiently. The start of tunnelling here today is a part of the strong foundations we can build upon to completing HS2 and deliver better journeys for rail passengers,” Wild said.
Also leading the delivery of the HS2 station at Euston that is an integrated transport hub, including the new station, redevelopment of the existing station, and upgrades to the London Underground station, along with commercial development across the Euston campus, is slated to be up to a new Euston Delivery Company.
The Euston Tunnel will complete the 44.3km of deep bore tunnelling on HS2 between London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street. Thirty-seven kilometres of tunnel are already complete after the final TBM constructing the Bromford Tunnel finished its journey in October last year.
Following completion, the high-speed railway will inaugurate in stages, with the first services running between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street. HS2 will open all the way to Euston at a later date.
