By Lynda Myer
With the purpose of delivering materials and remove spoil from the northern portal where HS2’s Euston twin-bored tunnel, the 6.2m i.d. logistics tunnel is due to be constructed by HS2’s contractor, Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV), that has launched the third TBM in London.
TBM Lydia, which is 847-tonne, has been started up from the Atlas Road site in North Acton by SCS JV from and it will build an 853m tunnel to the Old Oak Common Station site, whereas its commencing location will be 5m beneath ground and will reach a depth of 20m.
The scheduled time period for completion of tunnel drive is about six months and the tunnel constructed using 4,264 concrete segments forming 533 tunnel rings. The segments, each weighing over 3 tones, have been produced by Pacadar in Kent.
In order to constructing the Euston tunnel, 8,010 tunnel segment rings are slated to be transported by this tunnel, while manufacturing company of these segment rings is Strabag in Hartlepool and will be transported by rail and the logistics tunnel, rather than by road.
Linking to an existing conveyor at Atlas Road, a conveyor will run through the logistics tunnel and it will take the London clay being dug to construct the Euston Tunnel to HS2 London Logistics Hub at Willesden Euro Terminal, whereas the used method for transporting the spoil from there to sites in Kent, Cambridgeshire and Rugby for reusing will be the train.
According to Malcolm Codling, HS2’s project client for the London tunnels: “The Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel was key to constructing the Euston Tunnel between Old Oak Common and HS2’s Euston station. The logistics tunnel allows us to take 70,000 lorry journeys off the local roads that would otherwise have been required and will reduce the impact of HS2’s construction on the local community.”
Using components from a TBM previously used on Crossrail, the Herrenknecht TBM has been repurposed. Being stretched from Limmo Peninsula in Canning Town to Royal Victoria Dock, and between Pudding Mill Lane and Stepney Green, TBM Ellie bored two sections of the Crossrail tunnels in London.
The TBM has specifically been designed by Herrenknecht for HS2’s requirements and remanufactured components, including the shield and the cutting wheel.
The number of SCS JV’s TBM which are operating on HS2 will be five TBMs later this year, while four of them excavating the HS2 tunnels, linking West Ruislip and Old Common.
For a two years’ period, some aspects of the high-speed railway were delayed by government in March 2022, whereas it said it was committed to HS2 trains eventually terminating at Euston Station in central London, but for now it was prioritizing the service between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham.
