HS2 construction updates

[GRALISTAIR]

Ahaha, wow. Multiple sources - thanks!

Indeed. There is nothing to beat well sourced comments.

 

[mr_moo]

There's a "Virtual Site Visit" by the ICE on the HS2 / East West rail bridge construction coming up.
29th July, 18:00.
I'm pretty sure it's open to non-members of the ICE.

HS2 Virtual Site Visit – East West Rail Overbridge, online

The Thames Valley Graduate, Student and Apprentice committee are pleased to invite you to the next event in our series of virtual site visits.

www.ice.org.uk

 

[LeeLivery]

Here's a picture of the first few meters of Chiltern Tunnel from HS2's Instagram. Great to see!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Ahaha, wow. Multiple sources - thanks!

Multiple sources for a theoretical tunnelling rate.
Remembering the Channel Tunnel, we need actual TBM positions, and rates are likely to be low to begin with and accelerate as the teams get more efficient.
What I suppose we can say is that Florence must have passed under the M25 zone, as they are not permitted to have both TBMs operating under it at the same time.

 

[Ethan1852]

Multiple sources for a theoretical tunnelling rate.

Yes. I have added a note saying the Distance Tunnelled will not be 100% correct. This is where we would expect the TBM to be but it is not necessarily correct.

 

[stuu]

The HS2 website has a tunnelling tracker, you have to zoom in to the Chiltern Tunnel. It was updated yesterday - 360m have been dug

 

[Ethan1852]

The HS2 website has a tunnelling tracker, you have to zoom in to the Chiltern Tunnel. It was updated yesterday - 360m have been dug

Thank you so much.

Current TBM Status As of 1st July 2021

TBM Name	Tunnelling Status	Launch date*^1	Distance Tunnelled*^2	Days Since Launch
Florence	Tunnelling	13 May 2021	360 Meters 0.223694 Miles	49 Days
Cecilia	Tunnelling	1 July 2021	N/A	Today

*^1 Might not be 100% correct. Based on HS2 Press releases.
*^2 Information from https://www.hs2.org.uk/in-your-area/map/#16/51.6130/-0.5241/filter=hs2-stations,hs2-network. Correct as of 30 June 2021.

I have updated the table with the tunnelled distance.

 

[adrock1976]

HS2 have launched Cecilia - their second tunnel boring machine. This means both Chiltern TBMs are in the ground now.

https://twitter.com/hs2ltd/status/1410531142688706560?s=21

Is this machine named after the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name (also covered by Suggs from Madness in 1995)?

 

[InOban]

Click the link on post #926 for the origin of the name.

 

[Bald Rick]

On a different tack, I walked past where platforms 17&18 at Euston were today, and the adjacent streets. There is now a very big hole there!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The HS2 website has a tunnelling tracker, you have to zoom in to the Chiltern Tunnel. It was updated yesterday - 360m have been dug

That's the stuff.
The web page says the TBM trains are 170m long, so just over 2 TBM lengths have been dug.
The picture of the portal (link in #933) appears to show the back end of Florence inside the tunnel, so the business end must have been 200m or so in.

 

[adrock1976]

Click the link on post #926 for the origin of the name.

I am not on Twitter or any social media, but many thanks for attempting to answer the question I had posted.

 

[snowball]

I am not on Twitter or any social media, but many thanks for attempting to answer the question I had posted.

Neither am I but a lot of links to Twitter, including this one, work for me.

We’ve launched Cecilia - our second tunnel boring machine. Named after Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, the pioneering astronomer and astrophysicist, it will dig the second of the Chilterns tunnel bores.

 

[jyte]

The HS2 website has a tunnelling tracker, you have to zoom in to the Chiltern Tunnel. It was updated yesterday - 360m have been dug

Ooh this is fun, I remember the one they did for Crossrail.

 

[Mikey C]

I drove over that section of the M25 yesterday, so would have gone over the first tunnel!

Smaller HS2 worksites are all along the route, I've come across a few whether walking in the Chilterns - Aylesbury, south of Wendover, Great Missenden - or in NW London near West Ruislip

 

[kevin_roche]

Florence seems to have started slowly. I thought it was going to manage a furlong per fortnight.

 

[stuu]

Florence seems to have started slowly. I thought it was going to manage a furlong per fortnight.

They always start slowly, and I would expect they were very cautious going under the M25. Once under open countryside and systems are all working and everyone is on the ball they will almost certainly speed up

 

[hwl]

Florence seems to have started slowly. I thought it was going to manage a furlong per fortnight.

A lot need doing to the after the initial push (e.g. removing the extra initial rings) and getting all the pipework set up and preparing the second one for launch gets in the way of the logistics of feeding the first effectively. The real progress starts when both are full ready and you want a 200m gap is normally the minimum.

 

[mwmbwls]

Is this machine named after the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name (also covered by Suggs from Madness in 1995)?

One day you may well find a question about this asked in a pub quiz.
The answer is "The Chiltern TBMs are named after astronomer and astrophysicist, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who was born in Buckinghamshire, and nurse Florence Nightingale, who lived in the county at one time." Jus be careful not to get the Thames Tideway or Crossrail TBM's mixed up with HS2

 

[vic-rijrode]

I drove over that section of the M25 yesterday, so would have gone over the first tunnel!

Smaller HS2 worksites are all along the route, I've come across a few whether walking in the Chilterns - Aylesbury, south of Wendover, Great Missenden - or in NW London near West Ruislip

I have driven over the 2 tunnels for the northbound Northern Line extension to Bushey Heath many times - until the Chiltern TBMs emerge at the other end I will not celebrate...

 

[Jozhua]

Looking at the overhead images, you see how the line is literally the width of your average A-road! Impressively will carry more people than your average motorway and free up similar capacity on the rest of our rail network. It'll be interesting to watch the TBMs progress, things are beginning to look like a railway!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

HS2 Ltd has updated the TBM position data today. In Your Area Map | High Speed 2 (hs2.org.uk)
Florence is at 510m (July 9) as opposed to 360m (June 30). So 150m in 9 days is 16.7m per day.
Cecilia is at 28m.
I think I can feel a spreadsheet coming on...

 

[Jozhua]

Are there any plans to produce shows about the construction, like with Crossrail?

Might have the advantage of bringing the public on side a bit more.

 

[Ianno87]

Are there any plans to produce shows about the construction, like with Crossrail?

Might have the advantage of bringing the public on side a bit more.

I hope so. Not that it'll stop the usual suspects debunking it as "propaganda" etc etc.

 

[Watershed]

Are there any plans to produce shows about the construction, like with Crossrail?

Might have the advantage of bringing the public on side a bit more.

I'm sure there will be something. Probably broadcast nearer the time of completion though, as with Crossrail, even if footage starts being recorded now. Always more interesting if you can show something that vaguely looks like a railway rather than some fields.

 

[swt_passenger]

I'm sure there will be something. Probably broadcast nearer the time of completion though, as with Crossrail, even if footage starts being recorded now. Always more interesting if you can show something that vaguely looks like a railway rather than some fields.

I hope it’s not the usual channel 5 “artificial jeopardy“ style documentary, you know the sort of thing, “come back after the adverts to see if the entire M25 caved in”…

 

[kevin_roche]

I hope it’s not the usual channel 5 “artificial jeopardy“ style documentary, you know the sort of thing, “come back after the adverts to see if the entire M25 caved in”…

What a disappointment that might turn out to be.

 

[Backroom_boy]

Is there a flyover drone video of the current work?

 

[Mikey C]

I hope it’s not the usual channel 5 “artificial jeopardy“ style documentary, you know the sort of thing, “come back after the adverts to see if the entire M25 caved in”…

Mind you, they could have done that for Crossrail

"Will they bring Crossrail in on time and budget? Find out after the break."

 

[swt_passenger]

Mind you, they could have done that for Crossrail

"Will they bring Crossrail in on time and budget? Find out after the break."

I remember one episode, it was ”will they avoid the Northern Line tunnels where trains are still running“…