The last of HS2’s tunnel boring machines has been lifted to the surface in West London, marking the end of months of excavation work beneath Greenford, Ruislip and Old Oak Common.
Over the bank holiday weekend, the first part of “Anne” – a 9.11-metre diameter cutterhead – emerged from a shaft at Green Park Way in Greenford for the first time in 16 months.
The tunnel boring machine (TBM), weighing 1,700 tonnes and stretching 150 metres in length, is being dismantled and hauled out in sections using a gantry crane. It is the final machine to complete its work on the 8.4-mile-long Northolt tunnels, which run between West Ruislip and the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common.
The four machines launched from both West Ruislip and Old Oak Common, meeting in the middle after excavating more than 4 million tonnes of London Clay. Nearly 100,000 concrete segments were installed to form the tunnel walls.
The machine was named after Lady Anne Byron, an educational reformer and philanthropist who in 1834 founded the Ealing Grove School, England’s first co-operative school for working-class children.
HS2 has described the completion of the Northolt tunnels as a critical step in delivering faster connections between London, Birmingham and beyond, though the project has faced repeated delays, spiralling costs and mounting political scrutiny.
