MUCKING OUT, LOGISTICS | INSIGHT
LOGISTICS Challenges At Old Oak Common itself the tunnels pass under major rail lines, including those that will eventually form part of the interchange; all have to remain live and operational throughout the construction period. Janagan Nithiananthan says: “That makes getting
access to the cavern site problematic. The surface is full of rail tracks, so coming up with a plan to deliver the TBM to the site was challenging.” The components were delivered by road, passing
through London by night. “To get them to the top of the box though we had to
travel between rail lines and through an area about a kilometre long where the cavern contactors BBVS were working on the surface. The space available was not big and the pieces of equipment were not small. So in those early days we had a lot of challenges with the transfer of the TBM components.” Edmonds says: “Assembling the TBM was the same as
assembling any other machine: it is just the site and the other constraints that made it difficult.” It did not help that the programme was deferred
while the TBMs were being assembled. In March 2023, the then Conservative Government announced the axing
of the second phase of HS2, north of Birmingham to Manchester; and, at the same time, work on the Old Oak Common to Euston section of the first phase was suspended. The Government blamed price over-runs and
announced that HS2’s Euston station – the intended terminus of the entire project – could only go ahead with private finance; without it, Old Oak Common would then serve as the London terminus – despite its being outside Central London. Work on the TBMs was put on hold. However, after the change of government, when
Labour won in 2024, the new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, gave the go-ahead in October of that year to return to the original concept of building the first phase of HS2 all the way to Euston, as intended. The government says this is essential to unlocking the project’s full economic potential. In December 2024, the project owner and developer, HS2 Ltd, had a new CEO, Mark Wild, appointed to perform a comprehensive re-set of the entire project programme, including sequencing and bringing some certainty to final costs and opening dates. “So, all of that was a challenge,” says Edmonds.
“Eventually though, it all worked out well and we have got the TBM together.”
May 2026 | 21
Above:
TBM Karen’s factory acceptance test (FAT) at Herrenknecht’s manufacturing site, in Germany
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