HS2’s longest tunnel, which runs under the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, has finished construction.
The project, which has been delayed from its original opening date, will connect London with Birmingham cutting the journey from one hour 21 minutes to 52 minutes. The first leg of the journey will cost up to £66 billion.
Trains along the high speed rail will travel at 200mph and take just three minutes to go through the 10 mile Chiltern tunnel.
The 10 mile tunnel has been fitted with ventilation holes in 220m long extensions so the trains travelling quickly through the space don’t produce a sonic booms.
Carving out the tunnel using boring machines took about three years, from May and June 2021 to February and March 2024.
After that five ventilation and access shafts were sunk into the structure, delving 255 ft into the ground.
HS2 said there was “clear progress” but “was still significant work to do”, the BBC reported.
The project was supposed to travel to Manchester and Leeds after going to Birmingham, but the previous Tory government scaled the project back because of spiralling costs.
No specific completion date has been set yet. The first phase was supposed to be finished by the end of 2026. That was pushed back to between 2029 and 2033, and it has been pushed back further still with an indefinite end date.
However, a new HS2 cost and timetable is due to released at some point this year.
It comes after the new HS2 station at Euston which is still in construction could be “future proofed” by allowing more trains to run alongside the high-speed line.
Ministers asked officials to look at the plans “in more detail” to potentially expand Euston station.
