HS2: 10-mile long tunnel under Chiltern Hills completed almost three years after setting off
The machine digging HS2’s longest tunnel has completed its 10-mile journey under the Chiltern Hills, almost three years after it started.
Dubbed Florence – after the nurse Florence Nightingale – the machine was greeted with fireworks and cheers from hundreds of HS2 workers on Tuesday.
Florence was launched in May 2021 near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and set off on a 10-mile journey underground before emerging in South Heath, Buckinghamshire.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
It finished one of a pair of tunnels – at a depth of up to 80 metres – that will be used for HS2 trains travelling between London and Birmingham.
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The second tunnel is set to be finished within the coming weeks.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Described as an “underground factory” by HS2 Ltd, Florence ran with a crew of around 17 people working in shifts to keep it running constantly.
During its journey, the machine excavated the tunnel, lined it with 56,000 pre-cast concrete segments and grouted them into position, moving at an average speed of 16 metres per day.
After completing its mission, the machine will now be dismantled over the coming weeks.
Some large parts will be reused in other tunnel boring machines, but much of the machine – with a diameter of 10.25 metres – will be scrapped.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Rail minister Huw Merriman said after the tunnel was completed: “This ground-breaking moment for HS2 demonstrates significant progress on the country’s largest infrastructure project, with Florence paving the way for faster, greener journeys between London and Birmingham while supporting hundreds of jobs and apprenticeships along the way.
“Today’s breakthrough of HS2’s longest tunnel highlights the momentum behind the project and the achievement is testament to the hard work and dedication of the 450-strong team helping deliver the line that will transform rail travel for generations to come.”
A tunnel boring machine’s front shield being mounted near Old Oak Common, on 10 October 2023. File pic: PA
Preparations for the launch of two more machines to excavate tunnels between Old Oak Common and Euston in the capital is also under way.
Four similar machines are being used for tunnels on the approach to London, while another two will work on Birmingham’s Bromford tunnel.
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The three million cubic metres of chalk and other material removed by Florence will be used for a grassland restoration project in Rickmansworth.
Construction for HS2 at Curzon Street, Birmingham, on 4 November 2023. File pic: PA
Construction work on the HS2 line in Water Orton near Birmingham, on 15 February 2024. File pic: PA
In January, HS2 Ltd executive chairman Sir Jon Thompson said the cost of building HS2 between London and Birmingham could reach nearly £67bn – almost double an early projection for the entire original project.
Now only reaching Birmingham after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the northern leg of the project would be scrapped in 2023, the new estimate is nearly double what the high-speed network was expected to cost in 2013, when it had a price tag of £37.5bn.
The Public Accounts Committee also warned this month that the new plan to build HS2 between London and Birmingham but not extend it to Manchester will be “very poor value for money“.
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Politics
Reform UK overtakes Conservative membership – Nigel Farage calls it ‘historic’, Kemi Badenoch says numbers are ‘fake’
Reform UK now has more members than the Conservative Party and is “the real opposition” according to Nigel Farage, while Kemi Badenoch has called his numbers “fake”.
According to a digital counter on the party’s website, Reform UK had gone past 131,690 members – the amount the Conservative Party declared before its leadership election in the autumn – just before midday on Boxing Day.
Mr Farage, party leader and MP for Clacton-on-Sea, hailed the “historic moment” and said on X: “The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK are now the real opposition.”
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the party of issuing misleading figures: “Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas eh, Nigel?. It’s not real. It’s a fake… [the website has been] coded to tick up automatically.”
Posting on X, she added that the Tories had “gained thousands of new members since the leadership election”.
Reform UK also shared a video of the membership tracker being projected on to the Conservative Party headquarters in London overnight.
Zia Yusuf, party chairman, also said “history has been made today” and that the Tories’ “centuries-long stranglehold on the centre-right of British politics” has “finally been broken”.
Mr Farage hit back at Ms Badenoch, who strongly contested Reform UK’s figures. He claimed to have proof and posted a screenshot of an online register reportedly showing ‘active memberships’.
“We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership. However, this not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud,” he wrote on X.
Mr Yusuf added to the debate by appearing to goad Ms Badenoch about an audit: “We will gladly invite a Big 4 audit firm to verify our membership numbers on the basis that you do the same.”
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Nigel Farage said Reform UK is ‘now the real opposition’ after the ‘historic moment’. Pic: Reuters
The Conservative party membership figure – shared after Kemi Badenoch was announced as the new leader on 2 November – was the lowest on record and a drop from the 2022 leadership contest, when there were around 172,000 members.
In response, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform has delivered a Labour Government that has cruelly cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, put the future of family farming and food security at risk, and launched a devastating raid on jobs which will leave working people paying the price.
“A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council – only the Conservatives can stop this.”
According to research from the House of Commons Library, there is no uniformly recognised definition of party membership and no established method or body to monitor the number of members each political group has.
Reform UK was also originally set up as a limited company, but Mr Farage said he would change the party’s structure to be member-owned in September.
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It comes after Mr Farage offered to help Lord Mandelson, the new ambassador to the US, negotiate with president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
A long-time associate of Mr Trump, he has been seen at several Republican events during and after the presidential election.
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