HS2 Euston tunnel drive: logistics, spoil and segment strategy for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
The first of two Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines for HS2’s Euston Tunnel, 1,624‑tonne “Madeleine”, has begun driving the 4.5‑mile twin‑bore section between Old Oak Common and Euston, the fifth and final deep tunnel on the 140‑mile London–Birmingham route. Contractor Skanska Costain Strabag JV will use the 853‑metre Atlas Road logistics tunnel to supply 48,294 precast concrete ring segments and handle more than 1.5 million tonnes of spoil via conveyor to the Willesden Euro terminal depot. Spoil will then be moved by rail for reuse on schemes in Kent, Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire, reducing HGV movements in west London.
Technical Brief
- 1,624‑tonne Herrenknecht TBM “Madeleine” is now cutting the Euston Tunnel from Old Oak Common.
- Euston Tunnel is the fifth and final deep twin‑bore tunnel on the 140‑mile HS2 London–Birmingham alignment.
- Skanska Costain Strabag JV has already completed 8.4 miles of twin‑bore tunnelling between West Ruislip and Old Oak Common.
- Atlas Road logistics tunnel, completed January 2024, is 853 m long and provides access to both Euston TBMs.
- Logistics tunnel enables underground delivery of 48,294 precast concrete ring segments and extraction of over 1.5 Mt spoil.
- Conveyors transfer all Euston Tunnel arisings to the London Logistics Hub at Willesden Euro terminal for rail loading.
- Use of a dedicated logistics tunnel and rail‑based spoil removal offers a replicable model for urban TBM drives.
Our Take
With SCS JV already having completed 8.4 miles of twin-bore tunnels under outer London, the Euston Tunnel push suggests HS2 Ltd is now transitioning from peripheral to core urban interfaces, where settlement control and third-party asset protection typically drive up monitoring and mitigation costs.
The 853 m Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel and plan to move more than 1.5 million tonnes of spoil underground indicate HS2’s London section is leaning heavily on off-street logistics, a pattern in our Infrastructure coverage that usually reduces lorry movements and local air-quality complaints but complicates construction sequencing.
Herrenknecht’s role on this fifth deep twin-bore tunnel reinforces its position as the go-to TBM supplier on long UK rail drives in our database, which may influence procurement strategies for future underground sections or extensions around Old Oak Common and Euston.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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