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  • 14 hours ago
Tunnelling work to link the HS2 high-speed train route to Euston has begun, in a major milestone for the troubled project.The first of two 1,624-tonne tunnel boring machines was set in motion on Tuesday afternoon, watched by Rail Minister Lord Hendy and Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.The machine is named “Madeleine” after the former president of the Women’s Engineering Society, Madeleine Nobbs.

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00:00It's next stop, Euston. The HS2 tunnel boring machine beside this massive machine you've noticed badly.
00:08It's about to be set in train and start digging its way all the way to Euston in central London.
00:14Now old upcoming station was meant to open between 2029 and 2033, that's where I am just now.
00:21That timeline has been pushed back and we're waiting for details to see when it will finally open
00:27when the first part of the HS2 will run between outer London and Birmingham.
00:32But the good news here is with this tunnelling, things are being set in train, the Euston link will become a reality.
00:40When it will open we don't know yet. The new station hasn't been built yet either.
00:45The key thing is these tunnels are about to be dug and that just brings it all one stage closer.
00:50So I'm currently on the tunnel boring machine deep underground here at Old Old Common.
00:54What's it like? Well the machine itself is absolutely enormous. It's about 250 metres long.
01:01It's got its own kitchen on board, it's got its own toilets and it will keep going 24-7 until it reaches Euston.
01:08As it digs its way forward it lays these giant steel rings behind it to support the tunnel.
01:15There are two of these machines. One will be keeping going about 20 metres to the left here.
01:21So there will be one tunnel for the trains going to Euston and one tunnel for the trains coming out of Euston going to Birmingham.
01:27We are resetting edges too. But we must be productive while we're doing it.
01:33I think this shows you an example of really the best professionalism of the 34,000 people working every single day on this project making this incredible railway a reality.
01:45of the training will be quite
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