HS2 TBM Progress

[PLY2AYS]

So about 16 weeks at current rate of progress.

Makes it seem a lot, lot sooner when you put it into an approximate timescale!

 

[TBMEngineer]

Downline TBM in NTE is now approaching the shaft and we expect breakthrough Friday.
We shall hit the can tonight, with slow progress for the past few shifts due to the foam concrete

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Northolt East TBMs were updated today for May 30 (ie a week ago) for 20 days from May 10.
Emily is at 5516m (+93m), Anne at 5482m (+463m).
So Emily has moved slowly (4.6m/day) towards the exit portal and had 33m left, while Anne has moved quickly (23m/day) and was only 18m short.
Both TBMs are now poised to enter the exit "can" at the Greenford Way shaft, and as has been posted by TBMEngineer, Emily might finish today.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Northolt East TBMs were updated today for May 30 (ie a week ago) for 20 days from May 10.
Emily is at 5516m (+93m), Anne at 5482m (+463m).
So Emily has moved slowly (4.6m/day) towards the exit portal and had 33m left, while Anne has moved quickly (23m/day) and was only 18m short.
Both TBMs are now poised to enter the exit "can" at the Greenford Way shaft, and as has been posted by TBMEngineer, Emily might finish today.

Superb.

Any news on what the next project for the TBMs are? Or whether they’re being repurposed for the tunnels for Euston approaches?
Saw recently that one’s already gone (in the process of going) back to Germany.

 

[hwl]

Superb.

Any news on what the next project for the TBMs are? Or whether they’re being repurposed for the tunnels for Euston approaches?
Saw recently that one’s already gone (in the process of going) back to Germany.

Euston has new TBMs and most of the parts have been on site for a while. As covered a few pages ago assembly of the Euston TBMs has been paused to prioritise OOC station construction for the time being.

 

[BananaRepublic]

......Any news on what the next project for the TBMs are? Or whether they’re being repurposed for the tunnels for Euston approaches? ......

Euston has new TBMs and most of the parts have been on site for a while. As covered a few pages ago assembly of the Euston TBMs has been paused to prioritise OOC station construction for the time being.

Just to clarify, the Euston tunnels TBM's ‘Karen’ and ‘Madeleine’, are already assembled and in position at the eastern end of the OOC station box, almost ready to start up, once approval had been given to start tunnelling.

There's no information out in the public domain regarding how far the logistics tunnel has been prepared for spoil extraction and other tunnelling support services.

Once the conveyor system from Victoria Road has been dismantled, I expect it will be cut back and linked into the Atlas Road logistics site and the logistics tunnel.


z

 

[TBMEngineer]

Officially broke through last night into the shaft and can. A few more rings to push the shield fully into the can.
But Shift A broke through last night.
There will be an official SCS photo. (But they didn’t break through

View attachment 1749235651992.jpeg

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Jun 2025 ==

Superb.

Any news on what the next project for the TBMs are? Or whether they’re being repurposed for the tunnels for Euston approaches?
Saw recently that one’s already gone (in the process of going) back to Germany.

They are taking some bits from Emily back to Germany. Rest is getting scrapped

 

[absolutelymilk]

Officially broke through last night into the shaft and can. A few more rings to push the shield fully into the can.
But Shift A broke through last night.
There will be an official SCS photo. (But they didn’t break through

Congrats! Great work

 

[TBMEngineer]

Congrats! Great work

Thank you!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jun 2025 ==

DL TBM is now officially finished.

 

[erikvd28]

And here's Emily! https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/third-hs2-tunnelling-machine-completes-its-drive-beneath-london
Now it's waiting time for Elizabeth

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

HS2 are not giving anything away about Anne's completion date - just "the summer", even though it has only 18m to go.
Anne will have to wait until Emily is dismantled and extracted, which might take some time.

 

[TBMEngineer]

HS2 are not giving anything away about Anne's completion date - just "the summer", even though it has only 18m to go.
Anne will have to wait until Emily is dismantled and extracted, which might take some time.

Estimate is end of June to restart
So call it 4th of July finished

 

[erikvd28]

And then, now the extra funding is here, to Euston?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

And then, now the extra funding is here, to Euston?

We don't know that for certain.
The extra funding might just be gobbled up by cost overruns, like the GW electrification.

 

[TBMEngineer]

We don't know that for certain.
The extra funding might just be gobbled up by cost overruns, like the GW electrification.

it is quite up in the air at the moment, there is no 100% confirmed date for the launch, causing a lot of uncertainty for the workforce and engineers, who have a year of doing not much or getting moved to another project. EKFB are also getting lots of instructions to defer works for a year. seems HS2 bank accounts need a big injection, or activity is going to dry up for the best part of a year....

 

[Snow1964]

New drone video of the area around Northolt tunnel portal.
The segment handling equipment has been removed, and looks like the conveyors are being dismantled

HS2 has also produced a video on Copthall (cut and cover) tunnel, between Northolt and Colne valley viaduct. All the ventilation towers are now built, and landscaping has commenced in the area.

Looking like majority of the earthworks on this section have now been constructed and levelled, ready for trackbed. The videos suggest some noise retaining walls still need to be built, the recent HS2 letter (link) suggests building walls continues to March 2026

https://assets.hs2.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Piling-and-drainage-installation-works-for-noise-barrier-sites.pdf