NEW images have shown the scale of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) used to create a five-mile tunnel under London as part of the HS2 project.
The cutterhead, which spanned 9.48 metres in diameter and weighed 850-tonnes, was lifted from the vent shaft in one piece on March 15 using a 750-tonne gantry crane.
The TBM, known as Sushila, was launched from West Ruislip in October 2022 and completed its journey in Greenford in December 2024 – excavating over 1.2 million tonnes of earth and installing 4,217 tunnel rings.
