Photos released by HS2 show how contractors lifted a giant tunnel boring machine (TBM) using a gantry on Saturday (26 July) following the completion of its 5.5km journey across west London.
The 880-tonne TBM with a 9.11m diameter cutterhead excavated 775,000 tonnes of London Clay and installed 17,514 concrete tunnel segments from Victoria Road in Ealing before arriving at an underground reception chamber in Greenford.
TBM Emily is one of four machines used to construct part of the Northolt Tunnel, which is being built by joint venture between Costain, Skanska and Strabag.
It was named after Emily Sophia Taylor, who helped establish the Perivale Maternity Hospital in 1937 before becoming Ealing’s first female mayor in 1938.
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