HS2 has successfully lifted its third giant Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), named ‘Emily’, from beneath the ground at the Green Park Way site in Greenford, West London, following a significant 3.4-mile underground journey.
On Saturday, 26th July, the HS2 project team utilised a large gantry crane to lift the TBM’s massive 9.11-metre diameter cutterhead, along with its front and middle shields, a colossal component weighing 880 tonnes. The tunnelling machine concluded its journey from Victoria Road in Ealing in June, arriving in a specially constructed underground reception chamber. During its extensive excavation, TBM Emily dug out 775,000 tonnes of London Clay and installed 17,514 concrete tunnel segments.
In keeping with traditional tunnelling practice, the machine was given a female name after Emily Sophia Taylor. Ms Taylor played a crucial role in establishing the Perivale Maternity Hospital in 1937 before making history as Ealing’s first female mayor in 1938.
TBM Emily is one of four machines employed to construct a section of the Northolt Tunnel – an 8.4-mile tunnel designed to carry HS2 trains from Old Oak Common Station to the outskirts of the capital. The fourth TBM completed its excavation of the tunnel earlier this month and is scheduled for removal later this summer.
