The showcase is part of the nationwide Railway 200 celebrations, which mark 200 years since the birth of the modern railways. HS2’s year-long exhibition officially opens on Saturday, September 27 – the date of the world’s first passenger train journey along the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
The exhibition covers railway construction from the Kilsby Tunnel, built by hand over five years almost 200 years ago on the route of the original London to Birmingham railway, to how HS2’s engineers completed the first section of the 5.6km Bromford Tunnel – linking North Warwickshire and Birmingham – in just 22 months.
An immersive audio-visual experience will illustrate HS2’s advances in civil engineering and technology. It plays the real sounds of a 1,600-tonne TBM at work, while a short film shows how the machine was assembled before being launched. Two cutter discs, taken from one of HS2’s TBMs, will also be on display.
HS2 Ltd’s head of community engagement, Luke Nipen, said Birmingham’s historic and future connection to the railways was a fascinating story.
“Thinktank’s prime location, directly opposite the site where HS2’s brand-new terminus station will be built, brings the whole experience to life for visitors. On arrival, they will see the sheer scale of the progress we are making to bring high-speed rail into Birmingham for the very first time,” he said.
The story of what it was like to work 40m below the ground, inside the 125m-long TBM, is brought to life by Tunnelcraft pit boss, Steve Rocke, who managed the underground team that built the Bromford Tunnel.
Rocke has 43 years’ experience in the tunnelling industry and Bromford Tunnel, which is being delivered by HS2’s construction partner in the Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI, is his last mission before retirement. The past three-and-a-half years working on HS2 have enabled him to pass on his skills and experience to the next generation of tunnellers.
“I’m immensely proud to finish my career working on HS2, a monumental feat of engineering that will ultimately bring the UK’s two biggest cities closer together,” he said. “Knowing that rail passengers of the future will speed through the tunnels I have helped to build really is a privilege.
“As my career draws to a close, I look to the young men and women that have joined us as apprentices and graduates with admiration, knowing that they will play an important role in shaping the next 200 years of Britain’s rail story. Hopefully one or two visitors to the museum will feel inspired to join them too.”
HS2 says it is striving to inspire the next generation and has created thousands of opportunities for young people to develop new skills through its education programmes, work experience placements and apprenticeships. Through its partnership with Thinktank, it aims to build on that success and encourage more young people, and adults, to find out more about Britain’s new railway.
