HS2’s has today completed the high-speed railway’s first tunnel bore in the West Midlands.
Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV) launched TBM Mary Ann from the Warwickshire village of Water Orton in July 2023. The machine broke through in the Birmingham suburb of Washwood Heath after completing the 5.8km excavation for the Bromford Tunnel.
The second bore is expected to be completed later this year by TBM Elizabeth. Following the excavation, teams will begin fitting out the tunnel with cross passages, concrete finishing works and base slabs, and emergency and maintenance walkways.
During the 22-month-long tunnel drive, the team on board the 1,600-tonne TBM worked at depths of up to 40m. They navigated Mary Ann under the Park Hall Nature Reserve, the M6 motorway, and the River Tame – which they crossed four times, with a headspace as low as five metres.
The Washwood Heath site, where Mary Ann broke through, will soon become the nerve centre for HS2’s operations. Next to the tunnel portal, HS2’s Depot and Network Integrated Control Centre will be built. From this site, trains will be serviced and stored, and the real-time operation of the railway will be controlled.
TBM Mary Ann excavated around one million tonnes of spoil during the tunnel drive. In line with HS2’s sustainability policy, the excavated earth is being reused to support construction of the nearby Delta Junction, a network of 13 viaducts that will enable high-speed trains to travel between London, Interchange Station in Solihull and Birmingham Curzon Street Station. The excavated material is transported via dedicated haul roads to minimise the number of construction vehicles on public roads.
At peak production, TBM Mary Ann, named after Warwickshire-born writer better known by her pen name George Eliot, advanced at around 30m per day.
The segments installed along the tunnel were manufactured at BBV’s pre-cast factory at Avonmouth near Bristol. The TBM lined the tunnel walls with 20,797 individual segments, making 2,971 concrete rings to form the tunnel.
HS2 Ltd’s chief executive, Mark Wild, said today’s breakthrough was a significant milestone for the project and he was proud of the people who had built the tunnel.
“Washwood Heath is set to become one of the most important sites on the entire HS2 network – the point at which the railway will be operated, controlled and maintained using the very latest digital technology,” he said.
“HS2’s construction is transforming the West Midlands, and the £10bn investment boost it is already driving across the region will multiply in the years ahead.”
Balfour Beatty Vinci’s tunnelling director, Jules Arlaud, also celebrated the arrival of the first TBM into Birmingham.
“It’s been a challenging drive beneath critical live infrastructure and through complex ground conditions. I’m incredibly proud of our entire team, whose expertise, dedication and resilience has made this possible,” he said.
“This achievement follows years of design, planning and preparation from BBV, in close collaboration with HS2 and our partners. The team will now move onto the next phase of work inside and outside of the tunnel, while our second TBM, Elizabeth, continues to make great progress on the second drive.”
BBV’s tunnelling team includes 11 local apprentices who were recruited and upskilled for the job in partnership with Solihull-based Rorcon and national company Tunnelcraft.
HS2 says in the West Midlands alone, around 10,000 people are currently supporting HS2’s construction programme. Some 710 people from the region have secured an apprenticeship on the project and 1,870 people who were out of work have started new careers. Local firms are also playing a major role in the construction programme, with over 400 local businesses now engaged in HS2’s supply chain.
Around 31,000 people now employed on the project across the 225km route. Despite recent progress, HS2 is undergoing a fundamental reset to make sure the railway can be delivered efficiently and for the lowest feasible cost.
