HS2 works, West Ruislip, May 2023 – linings

Image: © Robin Stott Taken: 26 May 2023

The photograph was taken from a Birmingham-bound Chiltern Railways service speeding out of Marylebone; the view is back toward the HS2 works at West Ruislip where the line will emerge from under west London at the western portal of the Northolt Tunnels. What follows is partly speculation. The photo shows stacks of up to seven precast concrete tunnel linings; seven segments lock together to form a complete ring. The segments are put in place automatically by a unit in the tunnel boring machine (TBM) as it proceeds. The HS2 website has a number of YouTube videos about TBMs (and much else): https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/tunnels/meet-our-giant-tunnel-boring-machines/ The structure in the left background carries – let’s call them pods – which can be loaded with segments by travelling crane and rolled down into the tunnel to replenish the TBM. This structure, and another, can be seen beyond the red locomotive in Image This image reference: 7498538

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