Construction begins on tunnel from west London to Euston | EUROtoday

Work has began to dig the tunnel that can take HS2 from west London to Euston within the capital’s centre.

The first of two boring machines was switched on by Rail Minister Lord Hendy and Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Prime Minister, at Old Oak Common on Tuesday.

The 190m-long boring machine is known as Madeleine, after Madeleine Nobbs, the previous president of the Women’s Engineering Society.

Uncertainty surrounds the timetable of HS2 and general value of the brand new high-speed rail line, because the outcomes of a “reset” are awaited.

There have been experiences the venture might value £100bn, even after the legs to Manchester and Leeds had been scrapped.

Madeleine was inbuilt Germany and transported to the UK in elements. A 750-tonne crane lifted the elements into an underground field at one finish of the station, the place it was reassembled.

Madeleine’s companion machine is known as Karen, after Karen Harrison, the primary feminine practice driver within the UK, who was primarily based out of the Old Oak Common depot.

Under the earlier authorities, there have been doubts over whether or not HS2 would terminate in Euston on account of funding prices. In 2023, work on a brand new station at Euston was placed on pause.

Then-prime minister Rishi Sunak stated extending the high-speed rail venture from Old Oak Common to Euston can be reliant on non-public funding.

However, in her Budget in October the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, dedicated to the funding required to start tunnelling work to Euston.

It continues to be not clear precisely what the station will seem like, or when it will likely be accomplished.

A brand new physique, the Euston Delivery Company, is because of lead supply of what the federal government says will likely be an “affordable and integrated transport hub”. This new physique has but to be established.

The authorities says taking HS2 to Euston is “essential to unlocking the project’s full economic potential”.