BIGGER DIGGER
HS2 finally gets under way as world’s longest tunnelling machine prepares to start digging
THE world’s longest tunnelling machine prepares to start digging — as the HS2 rail project finally gets under way.
Florence, the 170-metre-long boring machine, weighing 2,000 tons, will spend the next three-and-a-half years drilling ten miles of tunnel at 15 metres every day.
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Ten borers will dig 64 miles of tunnel for the project, linking London to the Midlands.
This machine, in West Hyde, Herts, is named after nurse Florence Nightingale.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The launch today of the first giant tunnelling machine on HS2 is not only a landmark moment for the project, but the ground-breaking evidence that shows our commitment to levelling up transport links across the UK, supporting thousands of jobs and hundreds of apprenticeships in the process.
“The work has truly begun on taking HS2 northwards.
"The tunnels these machines dig will ensure the benefits of our new high-capacity, high-speed railway run to the great cities of the North and Midlands, forging stronger connections in our country, boosting connectivity and skills opportunities and transforming our transport links.”
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HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said: “The launch of Florence – the first HS2 tunnelling machine – is a truly historic moment for the project and this country.
“Supporting over 16,000 skilled jobs and hundreds of apprenticeships, and thousands of contract opportunities for British businesses, HS2 is a job creator, a spark for economic growth and an opportunity to level up the country, right at the heart of our plans to build back better from Covid-19.”
The Sun Says
HS2 is finally under way. You’ll doubtless be as thrilled as we are.
Who doesn’t want to shave a few minutes off a train ride between London and Birmingham by 2031, long after working from home has become customary and just in time for 6G broadband to allow us to meet via hologram?
For HS2’s vast cost we could roll out hyperfast internet to all, with billions spare.
But congrats to those working on the project, now it’s irreversible.
Don’t miss our regular updates as giant tunnellers Florence and Cecilia bore their way through the Chilterns.
Archaeologists excavate medieval English burial site built 1,000 years ago for HS2 trainline
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