HS2 tunnel completes an actual journey
The first HS2 tunnel bore into Birmingham has broken through, making it one of the few parts of the railway that can truthfully say it arrived.
Tunnel boring machine Mary Ann travelled 3.5 miles from Water Orton to Washwood Heath. She removed around one million tonnes of earth and never once requested rail-replacement transport.
The project will reuse that material at Delta Junction, a future network of thirteen viaducts. Even the mud has received a connecting service and a long-term infrastructure role.
“Mary Ann maintained excellent progress underground,” said Gordon Cutting, Controller of Ceremonial Breakthroughs. “The absence of public consultation with individual rocks saved several years.”
Engineers delivered a real achievement through difficult geology. The wider programme still faces a reset, which is project language for opening every cupboard and discovering another consultant.
At the Museum of HS2 Milestones, curators prepared a display containing one tunnel, two hard hats and an estimated completion date printed on a whiteboard.
Eventually, trains should use the route into Birmingham. Until then, Mary Ann holds the speed record for travelling through the HS2 story without stopping at a spending review.
Read the real story: the official report on the HS2 tunnel breakthrough.
