A giant tunnelling machine has been lifted to the surface after finishing work on a HS2 tunnel – and no wonder the project is costing so much.
The huge metal device has spent more than a year underground working on sections of the new high-speed rail network beneath the capital, finishing its project in June.
The so-called tunnel boring machine (TBM), named Emily, had been tasked with a 3.4-mile drive, starting at Victoria Road in the west London borough of North Acton.
It has now resurfaced as of Saturday, at its final destination of Green Park Way in the town of Greenford in neighbouring borough Ealing.
Since launching in February last year, it has completed one bore of the eastern section of the Northolt Tunnel, the second longest on the HS2 network at 8.4 miles.
It has removed 775,000 tonnes of clay and installed 17,514 tunnel segments in the passage, which stretches from Ealing to neighbouring borough Hillingdon.
Emily – weighing a huge 1,700 tonnes with a 9.11m diameter – is the third of four machines to work on the tunnel, with the final one expected to finish later this year.
But such enormous machines carry a hefty price tag – the entire network could end up costing as much as £80billion to build.
A giant tunnelling machine (pictured) has been lifted to the surface after finishing work on a HS2 tunnel – and no wonder the project is costing so much
The huge metal device (pictured) has spent more than a year underground working on sections of the new high-speed rail network beneath the capital, finishing its project in June
The so-called tunnel boring machine (TBM), named Emily (pictured), had been tasked with a 3.4-mile drive, starting at Victoria Road in the west London borough of North Acton
Shocking pictures show the device dwarfing the workmen supervising its removal from the ground.
Heavily reinforced ropes, hanging from a huge red metal structure, drag the machine from what appears to be an incredibly deep shaft leading down to the tunnel below.
The revelation of the truly imposing size of the machinery involved in HS2, or High Speed 2, is a stark reminder of the eye-watering cost of the project.
The Department for Transport’s ‘estimated range’ for HS2’s total cost in November 2023 was £45-54billion, a report by the Committee of Public Accounts published in February this year noted.
The latest estimate by HS2 Ltd – the government-funded company responsible for HS2 – was £54-66billion in June last year, it added.
The report concluded: ‘With their competing cost estimates still in 2019 prices, then once adjusted for inflation the total programme costs might be close to £80billion.’
This came just before another damning report on the cost of the project, published last month.
It was discovered last month HS2 is set to be delayed for another two years as a report revealed costs for the project had increased by £37billion.
Shocking pictures show the device (pictured) dwarfing the workmen supervising its removal from the ground
Heavily reinforced ropes, hanging from a huge red metal structure, drag the machine (pictured) from what appears to be an incredibly deep shaft leading down to the tunnel below
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced last month the line between London and Birmingham would no longer be completed in the target time of 2033.
She claimed the cost of the project shot up £37billion between 2012 and the last general election, The Telegraph reported.
The minister accepted 89 recommendations from an independent review into infrastructure projects, spearheaded by former Crossrail chief executive James Stewart.
Mike Brown, former Transport for London (TfL) commissioner, became the new chairman of HS2 Limited – the company in charge of the project.
A damning dossier of the project’s shortcomings said the previous government spent £2billion on the original network between Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds before scrapping it.
After the Birmingham to Leeds and Birmingham to Manchester legs were scrapped in 2021 and 2023 respectively, HS2 will now just connect London and Birmingham.
More than £250million was spent by HS2 Ltd on failed designs for a new station at Euston by HS2 Ltd, the report also revealed.
The company was reportedly asked to provide a cheaper alternative but ended up nearly doubling the price in the second design.
Emily (pictured) has now resurfaced as of Saturday, at its final destination of Green Park Way in the town of Greenford in neighbouring borough Ealing
Since launching in February last year, it has completed one bore of the eastern section of the Northolt Tunnel, the second longest on the HS2 network at 8.4 miles
A HS2 statement said Emily got through around 38 metres of the Northolt Tunnel each day ‘at peak production’.
Had this pace been consistently maintained, the 3.4-mile route would have been completed in just over 140 days, or nearly five months.
Emily has in fact been working for 14 months.
The machine was manned by three teams of 48 working round the clock to dig the tunnel before lining it with concrete segments weighing up to seven tonnes each.
It came after two other TBMs, named Sushila and Caroline, worked on the western section of the tunnel from the West Ruislip area of Hillingdon.
Sushila and Caroline’s drives were completed in December 2024 and April 2025 respectively.
The final machine, still working, will complete the work Emily started on the eastern end of the passage this summer.
Some 34 cross passages between the eastern and western bores will then be finished, before a flat surface is laid on the tunnel’s base for tracks to be laid on.
A HS2 statement said Emily got through around 38 metres of the Northolt Tunnel each day ‘at peak production’
Had this pace been consistently maintained, the 3.4-mile route would have been completed in just over 140 days, or nearly five months
Tunnel shafts for ventilation and emergency access will finish off the Northolt Tunnel project.
This passage will eventually take HS2’s new high-speed trains from the outskirts of London to the new Old Oak Common station in west London.
All four devices finish at Green Park Way, lifted out of the ground like Emily.
It comes after Mary Ann, the first of two machines excavating the Bromford Tunnel from Warwickshire to Birmingham, finished work in early May.
The 3.5-mile passage stretches from the village of Water Orton to the West Midlands city’s Washwood Heath area.
HS2 project client director Malcolm Codling said of the completion of Emily’s work: ‘HS2’s tunnelling drives in London for the Northolt Tunnel are nearing completion and it is a real achievement for our team to complete this 3.4-mile section on the tunnel safely and with such efficiency.
‘There is still much more to do in the tunnel to get it HS2 ready and we will be focusing on productivity to continue with our work safely to get the HS2 route in London ready for track to be laid, and systems installed.’
Emily’s work was completed by HS2’s London Tunnels contractor Skanska Costain STRABAG JV (SCS JV).
HS2, or High Speed 2, was proposed in 2009 to build a high-speed railway to connect London, the Midlands and the north of England. Pictured: An artist’s impression of what HS2 will look like
The firm’s tunnels and routeway project director, Dave Hannon, said: ‘The arrival of TBM Emily at Green Park Way marks a significant milestone in the programme.
‘We are now approaching completion of the Northolt Tunnel – an exciting achievement and a testament to the collaboration, dedication, and technical capabilities of our teams.
‘With our continued focus we are pressing ahead at pace to complete the remaining works, including cross passages, tunnel walkways, ventilation shafts, headhouses, and portals, as we deliver on part of the HS2 project.’
Teams manning Emily removed the clay from the ground on a conveyor belt.
The excavated soil has since been reused on sites in Cambridgeshire, Kent and Warwickshire, where it was transported by train.
Emily was made by world-leading tunnelling experts, German firm Herrenknecht.
This latest machine to finish was named Emily after Emily Sophia Taylor, who established Ealing’s Perivale Maternity Hospital in 1937.
She became the borough’s first female mayor a year later.
The project was announced in 2010 by then Conservative Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. Pictured: HS2’s 2.1-mile viaduct across the Colne Valley in Hertfordshire
The company also came under fire when £20,000 was spent on a model station made out of Lego (pictured)
HS2, or High Speed 2, was proposed in 2009 to build a high-speed railway to connect London, the Midlands and the north of England.
The project was announced in 2010 by then Conservative Transport Secretary Philip Hammond.
But ever since it has been beset by controversy amid ballooning costs.
It was originally divided into phase one, from London to Birmingham; phase 2A, from Birmingham to Crewe; and phase 2B, from Crewe to Manchester.
The network will now just connect London and Birmingham.
And a particularly bizarre element of the works included spending £100million on a tunnel for bats.
This is despite there being ‘no evidence’ the trains will interfere with the mammals, ex-HS2 chairman Sir Jon Thompson said.
He claimed this is an example of the UK’s ‘genuine problem’ with completing major infrastructure projects.
The company spent the equivalent of £1 per plastic brick – and used it at 20 events in two years. Pictured: Construction workers and members of the media look on moments after tunnel boring machine ‘Cecelia’ breaks through, after tunnelling under the Chiltern Hills
The company also came under fire when £20,000 was spent on a model station made out of Lego.
The company spent the equivalent of £1 per plastic brick – and used it at 20 events in two years.
The toys were used to recreate a planned site to help inform communities, businesses and the public about a new train station.
The Lego version turned out to be roughly the size of a kitchen table, and consultants Bricks McGee were paid to construct it.
In June, a whistleblower who lost his job after accusing HS2 executives of fraud over the true cost of the project won more than £300,000 in compensation.
Risk management expert Stephen Cresswell repeatedly raised concerns that the cost of the high speed rail line – which could end up landing the taxpayer with a bill of more than £80billion – was being ‘actively misrepresented’.
The consultant was told by one HS2 executive to ‘disregard’ scenarios he had prepared which forecast a ‘significant’ increase in the price to the public, an employment tribunal heard.
As a result, Mr Cresswell warned he found himself in a ‘very uncomfortable position’ of having a ‘very different’ view to the high speed rail line company’s ‘documented position’.
In June, a whistleblower (pictured) who lost his job after accusing HS2 executives of fraud over the true cost of the project won more than £300,000 in compensation
The tribunal heard that in a meeting with bosses he said ‘fraud had been committed because he understood fraud to be making false statement so as to secure a benefit’.
After losing his job, Mr Cresswell took HS2 to an employment tribunal, claiming he had his contract terminated and been denied other work as a result of blowing the whistle.
After the rail firm admitted that he had not given adequate levels of protection following his disclosures he has now been awarded £319,070 in damages.
In response, campaigners said it was not to late for Labour to consider scrapping high speed rail over years of ‘catastrophic mishandling’.
HS2 Ltd previously said investigations into Mr Cresswell’s claims found no evidence of fraud or illegal activity.
In a statement it said: ‘HS2 Ltd has accepted that Mr Cresswell raised concerns as a whistleblower and was not then given the appropriate level of protection when his contract came to an end.
‘This is regrettable and HS2 Ltd is committed to ensuring that staff and others can raise concerns in confidence.
‘This admission does not mean that HS2 Ltd accepts the specific allegations around cost estimating practices raised by Mr Cresswell.
Risk management expert Stephen Cresswell repeatedly raised concerns that the cost of the high speed rail line – which could end up landing the taxpayer with a bill of more than £80billion – was being ‘actively misrepresented’. Pictured: The HS2 Curzon No 2 viaduct in Birmingham, pictured in June
‘However, the company is under now under new leadership and a comprehensive review of its skills and structures is being carried out.’
In May, a DfT spokesperson said: ‘We take all whistleblowing allegations seriously and it is important that individuals are given appropriate levels of protection, which clearly was not the case for Mr Cresswell.
‘There is a lot of hard work still to do to get this project back on track, which is why we are overseeing a total reset of HS2, and reviewing the programme’s costs, schedule and culture.’
A HS2 Ltd spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Emily achieved a peak production rate of around 38 metres per day during her journey beneath London.
‘However, this rate reflects the machine’s performance during optimal conditions and does not account for the full range of operational factors that determine overall tunnelling progress.
‘In practice, the speed of a tunnelling operation is influenced by several variables, including ground conditions, maintenance requirements, logistics, and the careful set-up and commissioning phases at the start of the drive.
‘These all contribute to the total time taken to complete a tunnel section.
‘TBM Emily’s tunnel drive was completed safely and successfully over 14 months, delivering a vital section of the HS2 route that will help to improve rail capacity and connectivity across the country.’
They added: ‘Our Chief Executive Mark Wild has been clear that the overall delivery of HS2 has been unacceptable and significant changes are clearly needed to break the cycle of cost increases and delays.
‘He is now embarking on a comprehensive review which will lead to a full reset of the company and project – ensuring the railway is delivered to the lowest reasonable cost.
‘The multi-year financial settlement for the project – set out in the recent spending review – provides greater certainty to the delivery of HS2 and lays the foundations for the reset.
‘This work is essential to ensure that HS2 can deliver the transformational benefits of economic growth and vital new rail capacity between our two biggest cities.’
The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment.
