The Anonymous Widower

HS2 Starts Work On First Pioneering ‘Green Tunnel’

The title of this post is the same as that of this press release on the High Speed Two web site.

These three paragraphs introduce the work at Chipping Warden.

HS2 today [Friday 10th June] announced the start of construction at the site of its first innovative ‘green tunnel’, designed to blend the high speed railway into the landscape and reduce disruption for communities.

Unlike a normal underground tunnel, the one-and-a-half mile (2.5km) Chipping Warden green tunnel in Northamptonshire is being built on the surface using a pioneering off-site manufacturing approach to speed up construction and improve efficiency.

This approach will see more than five thousand giant concrete tunnel segments made in a factory in Derbyshire before being assembled on site. The completed tunnel will then be covered by earth, with trees, shrubs and hedgerows planted to fit in with the surrounding countryside.

Note.

1. High Speed Two are building five of these tunnels between London and Birmingham.
2. I know from talking to engineers at Custom House station, which was also built in a factory, that the quality is excellent.
3. But is it also cheaper and quicker, as all segments on the five tunnels are identical, no expensive tunnel boring machine is required and conventional equipment can be used?

These are some images from High Speed Two, which show the erection of the first segments of the green tunnel.

There is also this video, which shows more about the green tunnels.

I suspect we’re going to see a lot more of these tunnels.

June 13, 2022 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Construction, Green Tunnel, High Speed Two, Offsite Construction, Tunnels