Mark Harper MP, Secretary of State for Transport, joined HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Thurston for a drive-through of the first bored tunnel at Long Itchington in Warwickshire, as momentum continues to build on the project.

This marks the first time VIPs and media have been able to travel end-to-end in a tunnel on the UK’s new high speed network.

Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport, and HS2 Ltd Chief Executive Mark Thurston went 33 metres below ground for an exclusive end-to-end tour of the first completed tunnel on the HS2 project.

A 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine (TBM) dug the one-mile tunnel taking the HS2 rail line under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire, protecting the ancient woodland above. The TBM - named ‘Dorothy’ after Dorothy Hodgkin who in 1964 became the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry - broke through the south portal tunnel wall in July this year. The tunnelling team worked around the clock for 7 months, placing 790 concrete rings to build the 10 metre diameter tunnel.

Since the summer breakthrough, a 300-strong site team from HS2’s construction partner Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) have pulled the TBM gantries back through the tunnel, for the TBM’s relaunch to start the second bore last week.

The tunnel, which preserves the ancient woodland above, forms a key element in how HS2 is managing environmental impacts through the design of the railway, protecting Britain’s precious wildlife habitats. Long Itchington Wood is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with complex ecosystems that have taken hundreds of years to establish.

Find out more at: https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/t...

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