Tunnelling machines to take HS2 to Euston unveiled - work set to start next year

Assembly of two tunnelling machines that will be used to dig the final 4.5 miles of the HS2 route to Euston has begun.

The two machines – named Karen and Madeleine – will be launched from an underground box at Old Oak Common station in 2025. It’s expected to take around 18 months to reach Euston.

The dismantled machines, built by Kerrenknecht AG in Germany, were lowered into the station box in the summer. Both 190 metres long and weighing 1,250 tonnes, the 8.53-metre cutterheads have been optimised to cut through the clay under London. Once completed, the inner diameter of the runnels will be 7.55m.

HS2 Ltd’s new CEO, Mark Wild, also officially started in his new post on Monday.

Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said: “The sheer scale of the progress at Old Oak Common – and the benefits we will realise from taking HS2 to Euston, as confirmed in the Budget - reminds us that this is a once-in-a-generation project. HS2 will not only improve transport links for millions but unlock huge potential for growth, jobs and regeneration right across the country.”

HS2 Ltd has said the tunnels approaching Euston will be spray concrete-lined, which will then transition into three tunnels allowing trains to feed into and out of platforms at the new station.

However, there are still no updates on the station itself.

In her October Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ October Budget said the government was “committing the funding required to begin tunnelling work to London Euston station”, adding: “That will catalyse private investment into the local area, delivering jobs and growth.”

Last month, then-Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told the Transport Select Committee last month the government “working with Camden and the GLA (Greater London Authority) through a potential development corporation to look at how we can leverage private finance into the new HS2 Euston station”.

The machines have been named after Karen Harrison, the UK’s first female train driver who was baked out of Old Oak Common, and Madeleine Nobbs, the former president of the Women’s Engineering Society.