High Speed 2 bosses, who will supervise its construction, are set to receive two massive drills before £1bn in vital funding is secured.
The Government is yet to approve the start of tunnelling despite repeating plans to extend the HS2 to Euston after scrapped its northern leg last October.
The uncertainty over funding forced HS2’s construction to go slow, resulting in the halting of work on a vent shaft 40 metres deep at Camden only this week.
Engineers will still travel to Germany to inspect the two 1,700 ton boring machines which will dig the tunnel. Skanska Costain Strabag has also finished a nearly kilometer-long logistic tunnel, which will allow thousands to tons of London Clay to be removed.
How the project is financed is the main reason for the delay in approving the Euston Tunnel. Rishi Sunak has pledged to save £6.5bn on the redevelopment at Euston by partnering with the private sector.
It’s possible to do this in the “Euston Quarter”, the area around the station, but it is more difficult along the entire tunnel route.
It is believed that the Government is looking at alternative funding options. Despite the lack of a clear supporter from the private sector, it’s becoming more likely that this link will be funded by public funds.
A Department for Transport spokesperson reiterated their commitment to “deliver a privately funded Euston station”, saying that investors were interested in the project, but did not comment on specific funding plans for tunnel link.
The budget does not cover the work that the two tunnel-boring machine – the final of 10 machines used on HS2, and costing over £100m each – are supposed to do.
Once SCS inspects them, the machines will be sent to the UK and dropped in the eastern end 800-metre “box” underground forming the Old Oak Common Station.
The sections must be lowered into place by a crane weighing 750 tons. They will measure 170 meters long once assembled. The tunnelling process is expected to start in 2025, and could take up to an year and a quarter.
SCS is undertaking a £3.3bn project that includes the 8.4 mile Northolt Tunnel, which begins just west of Old Oak Common. The line continues to West Ruislip at the edge of London.
HS2 has three major tunnels. The Chilterns will be the site of a 10-mile section that has a larger bore to allow trains to run at maximum speed. Two shorter tunnels are located in Birmingham and Coventry.