HS2’s tunnelling into Birmingham reaches halfway point

[@chrisswann-z2o]

When the great Victorian engineers such as Isambard K Brunel built the railways we are using today I have no doubt they also had their detractors. Fortunately for us they persevered. Keep going guys until you reach Manchester.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

@@chrisswann-z2o .. the Victorian engineers persevered because the railways were groundbreaking at the time of the industrial revolution & totally changed the way that people & freight were transported around the country. HS2 literally has NO benefit whatsoever & I've got some bad news for you .. the new Labour government have already stated they have NO plans to revive any of the scrapped sections of this monstrous vanity project .. in a recent interview, Sir Keir Starmer said "it's not possible to do as the Tory government have blown the budget & contracts are going to be cancelled" which is excellent news as HS2 is an environmental disaster of epic proportions & Britain's biggest infrastructure mistake in half a century.

[@Sarge084]

I've heard of Brunel, but who's this Percy Vere you mentioned?!

[@CRIMSONANT1]

@@chrisswann-z2o .. the Victorian engineers "persevered" because they were working during the industrial revolution - the railway was a new concept & would transform the way that people & freight could be moved around the country. HS2 is of NO benefit whatsoever & you can kiss goodbye to it ever reaching Manchester .. the Labour government have NO plans to revive any of the scrapped sections .. in a recent interview, Sir Keir Starmer said "it's not possible as the Tory government have blown the budget & contracts are going to be cancelled", which is excellent news as HS2 is an environmental disaster of epic proportions & Britain's biggest infrastructure mistake in half a century.

[@SirReginaldBlomfield1234]

😆😆

[@CiaraNITuathail-ty8zn]

Thinking about gay men again eh ​@@SirReginaldBlomfield1234

[@RichardBacon-h5x]

Well done, keep up the great work. Future generations will praise you for sure.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

Haha .. future generations will look back on this monstrous vanity project & wonder why we wasted billions of pounds on a massive white elephant that will be nothing more than a glorified cycle path within a decade of opening.

[@ep1981]

@@CRIMSONANT1 Is that what today's generation make of the Great Western line, or the ECML, or the WCML? Those stupid Victorians shouldn't have bothered, right?

[@CRIMSONANT1]

@@ep1981 .. those " stupid Victorians" built the railways during the industrial revolution .. they revolutionised the way that people & goods could be transported around the country. HS2 is an environmental disaster of epic proportions & Britain's biggest infrastructure mistake in half a century.

[@hx0d]

@@CRIMSONANT1 that's what they said about Crossrail 🤡

[@mrglide7078]

@@CRIMSONANT1 Keep taking the copium 🤡

[@LindaCox-hb5dv]

My son has worked for HS2 for 10 years and I'm so proud of all of it. Just wish i was young enough to see it all completed. It's a fascinating project.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

@@LindaCox-hb5dv .. given the current rate of progress & the number of sections being cancelled, it's hardly likely that your son will even be alive when (or if), if its ever completed 😉

[@LindaCox-hb5dv]

@CRIMSONANT1 Why do you have to be so critical?

[@CRIMSONANT1]

@@LindaCox-hb5dv .. because HS2 is a complete & utter waste of billions of pounds & an environmental disaster of epic proportions .. that answer your question? 😉

[@AB-hu2uw]

Mate 😂 ​@@CRIMSONANT1

[@StukovM1g]

@@LindaCox-hb5dv I am a civil engineer in the UK. I think the industry is fantastic, it is that this country doesn't have the political will to see HS2 through to completion.

[@richardsherwood2003]

Well done guys! legacy for the next generations

[@NeonNion]

The only legacy we're giving to future generations is a wrecked planet. All thanks to human caused biodiversity & climate crisis, which megaprojects like HS2 does nothing to alleviate (they do the opposite)

[@janeknight3597]

You guys are amazing.

[@porkpie2884]

I'm most impressed by how TBM's know where they are

[@Umar_1994_]

They cost on average 15 million

[@porkpie2884]

@@Umar_1994_ I thought they'd be more expensive than that.

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

The ones on Crossrail cost £10.70 million. But that was in 2010 and the tunnels on HS2 are boring bigger tunnels.

[@mazybee9149]

I could watch these updates everyday, absolutely fascinating to watch!

[@shaunwest3612]

Congratulations, just incredible engineering and work 😀👌👍

[@1chish]

When the armchair engineers complain about costs THIS is why HS2n is so expensive. Over half the route is in tunnel to reduce its impact on local areas. people say 'Oh france does it cheaper!' Well yes because they have 2 1/2 times the land area the UK has with a similar population so there is more open land to build on and they aren't too bothered about turfing people out of homes and running the line on the surface.

[@SchindleList]

Also France does clever accounting they don’t put station costs in the costs so we see the all in price the French public see only the cost of the line not the other peripherals

[@1chish]

@@SchindleList Excellent point. I believe all the pre build design, property purchase and 'civils' costs are taken by one Government department while the actual track is done by another. Again only showing part of the true costs.

[@chrismoyler]

Please remember that the French compensated land owners at valuation plus 10% The UK Government used nefarious London firms to screw property owners down to a false low value, effectively stealing from them. Utterly disgraceful!!

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

And the same goes for other Countries in Europe and in China. The Chinese only publish the cost of the track. The Danes only publish the cost of the track and stations. We publish the cost of everything, including compulsory purchase orders of land, planning requirements, existing infrastructure diversions, design fees, tunnels, bridges, embankments, dealing with contaminated ground etc etc. So it is impossible to do a cost comparison.

[@njp9554]

Why as a Northern is my taxes going on this that isn't gonna benefit me 😂

[@theotryhard8651]

nice work lads, go to leeds next!

[@maryobamudi1874]

Proud of the work you are doing. Well done

[@ritamaria4857]

Well done HS2 team🎉

[@the-real-iandavid]

Fascinating!

[@WalterWilkinson-j5o]

Like other parts of HS2, a great piece of engineering. Why dont the media and people in general celibrate it more instead of knocking it. Keep up the good work.

[@ShadowJester-jg2gs]

Initially estimated at £37 billion in 2009, the cost of the HS2 project has now increased to an expected £100 billion by the time it’s fully completed. When the line is eventually operational, ticket prices are likely to be significantly high to recoup the massive construction costs. Despite this, the line will have just four major stops-two in London and two in Birmingham-limiting its direct benefits to only a small portion of the population. In fact, this line will only benifit around 15% of the UK's population. Meanwhile, other essential services and infrastructure across the country risk being overlooked as resources are diverted to this costly line.

[@xaiano794]

@@ShadowJester-jg2gs The new cost includes all the increases in costs due to the delays, the cost of legal challenges and studies and the extra cost of appeasement works like extra tunnels. You can see from your own figures that the people complaining and obstructing the project have cost all of us more than the entire cost of actually constructing the line, so don't you find it curious that you are angry at the project, not at the complainers?

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

And the estimate was never an estimate, only a figure pulled out of the air to persuade the Johnson government to proceed.

[@nige-g]

Well done, everyone.

[@jasonseaneccleston2329]

AND I DIDNT HEAR A THING, SLEEPING AT NIGHT. THOUGH THE TUNNEL IS A FAIR LENGTH FROM THE ESTATE HERE IN BROMFORD. GREAT ENGINEERING.

[@PLuMUK54]

The Bromford West Portal is only a 6 minute walk from my house, yet there is no sign of all of this work. I am glad that I am retired, though, as the route that I used to use to get to work is soon to close for 14 months. It must have cost a fortune to inform everyone. Last week, I received a letter in the post. It was printed on top quality paper and included several sheets. They must have sent out thousands of letters.

[@jermainetrainallen6416]

A lot of the work is hidden away quite well

[@prathameshdesai6647]

Great work!! TBM works seem very interesting. I wonder how it will look when the project is completed and would everyone be able to grasp the scale of the project.

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

Most people can't grasp the scale of the project now.

[@kevinburke5213]

Thanks all

[@BillyBoy46]

Nice.

[@simondean7631]

Any chance of any updates on what's happening with the B4114 Birmingham Road near Coleshill? Small fry in comparison, but I drive through every day and mesmerised by daily changes of earth moving, section constructions, it looks like a new bridge will be constructed soon? Will the new road be covered over and the old road reinstated in a different position?

[@ben437]

Search for a video called HS2 Flythrough, At 3.25 you can see the renderings for it. 4 tracks viaducts, embankments, River cole and Manor drive redirected etc

[@charlottelarimore9261]

I believe when its complete the trains might be abit big for the tunnels (it kinda looks small like pipes)

[@PlayBoi3x]

Half way, i am sorry but when it this supposed to come online?

[@CharlesHedges-v2u]

A very impressive achievement which totally undermines any NIMBY reasons to complain about the project. Show some pride instead of complaining.

[@Teerifficgolf]

This is all confusing. At coleshill it looks like the track will be on stilts but they are digging a tunnel here, is there really that much height difference?

[@xaiano794]

it's to appease local nimbys

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

The tunnel is going under a number of obsticals, these being the Birmingham to Derby railway line, the elevated M6 and Chelmsley Wood Feeder road into Birmingham, the River Tame a load of Business properties and a large Birmingham Council Estate Bromford Bridge before running into Birmingham Curzon Street station and from this tunnel the line will raise in height to go over the high level delta junction before running to Birmingham Interchange Station

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@xaiano794 Nothing to do with Nimby's see my comment above

[@sandytaylor8622]

A fantastic major piece of engineering work. The skills involved are amazing. If only our stupid Tory politicians had kept their noses out, we could look to a journey through to Euston & St Pancras and then on into Europe! That is what HS2 should be doing. When a High Speed line was first proposed between Birmingham and London it was dreamt to be fast connection through the Chunnel to Paris and onwards! There was a platform at New Street Station which was allocated for just such a train! If only we could have remodelled New Street so that HS2 was underground on a 2 level station and then HS2 was tunnelled up to Manchester etc! Just look at Antwerp Station for example to see what a multi level station is like with national, regional and international lines on separate levels! Birmingham really would have been the centre of the UK then! What a sad missed opportunity!

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

The present HS2 was never desighned to connect to HS2, it is just a domestic High speed service from the North and West Midland to London

[@beckham417]

Forget the north though 😢

[@matthewhale4444]

It's interesting to watch the progress of this railway line. However I'm of the mind that it will never recoup the cost to build it & our politicians and businesses who are supporting it & have a hand in this large project probably know it & will never admit it.

[@jakehowie442]

CAP a French company? All this tunneling could’ve started in the North too

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

What tunnel from Manchester to Bromford in Birmingham, you are having a laugh aren't you

[@DavidKnowles0]

the digger you can see at 6.15 looks utterly ridiculous and like it shouldn't work.

[@Abhi-fx3gb]

reach the north

[@HazaraUK]

its exciting, but how can Japan and China build these things so cheap and fast

[@xaiano794]

Because the general population there supports infrastructure and the obvious benefits it brings. We have spent more that the entire construction cost on delays and legal challenges here in the UK. Just look through the comments and even now there are people demanding it be scrapped, despite the fact that scrapping it would actually cost tens of billions more than finishing it - they oppose change no matter how much it costs the nation and sadly, they are not a tiny minority.

[@AlexKavanagh-hj5vu]

Nimbys ruining everything like normal

[@willhemmings]

Congratulations to HS2. I may be critical, but I have to admit - I couldn't dig that tunnel. No. But I have seen the sections and no way can that tunnel descend under Park Hall Wood without huge discomfort to passengers. Believe me; just look at the difference in elevation between the s.e portal and the River Tame. Well of course HS2 has a confident answer for everyone - the trains will run down that slope at 30mph

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

You should have seen the tunnelling on Crossrail. The company I worked for won the contract to build the tunnels, underground station platform concourses and subways on the western section from Paddington to Liveroool Street. The tunnel boring machines can only build the tunnels, not the station platform concourse or subways. They were all built from an underground access, nothing accessed from street level. And the ground changed from clay to water bearing gravel at Farringdon. . And a,spokesman for Transport for London said they didn't realise crossrail was such a complex project.

[@Matrix-tz5yc]

UK was the superpower controlling 1/4 of the world. the main reason was the train. now UK had the slowest train. now HS2 had a chance to before the most fastest train, faster then China magnet bullet train. but still slow?

[@ILIKEPIE90712]

Japan would have build three hs2s in the time it’s taken us to they this far. Useless

[@xaiano794]

Read through the comments and you'll quickly see why - we have been held up in delays thanks to nimbys since 1996, that's 24 years of delays and just 4 years of construction.

[@cblairrrr2048]

Fix the roads ruined by 4 tonne cars rather than making trainlines to brumtown

[@mrglide7078]

Yep, thanks for that random comment not related to HS2

[@beeniemen]

Vinci in charge French are good Engineer

[@sandersson2813]

I laugh at UK engineering. Come to Norway, we will show you how to build a tunnel and not take 19 years to do 200m.

[@pwithnall]

The geology and population density of Norway are quite different from Birmingham, which affects how easy it is to build tunnels.

[@sandersson2813]

@@pwithnall What are you on about? The population density of the location of this Birmingham tunnel is irrelevant given that the government have the power to compulsory purchase AND it's already in a rural area. The geology of Norway is largely incredibly hard igneous rock, and can go in excess of 300m BELOW sea level. Technically the Norwegian tunnels, which may also contain junctions AND roundabouts to other tunnels are CONSIDERABLY more challenging from a technical standpoint.

[@mrglide7078]

19 years?

[@sandersson2813]

@@mrglide7078 How long HS2 is projected to take.

[@mrglide7078]

@@sandersson2813 not 19 years

[@normansmart7502]

White elephant always be running in debt

[@Christine-n4t]

WHAT A WASTE !

[@xaiano794]

what would you recommend as an alternative?

[@mrglide7078]

...your comment was 😂

[@leetown6741]

Waste of money

[@TheKnightWraith]

You should take notes from Japan. They would have built it all years ago. Utter shambles from the UK. Such a waste of my tax money.

[@xaiano794]

thank nimbys for that

[@Trevor_Austin]

An expensive, useless railway between almost Euston and almost Birmingham. Got it. I’m so pleased for us all to have such an expensive vanity project.

[@daranphilipson1025]

You need to cry a little louder I don’t think they can hear you.

[@hangmanhands5826]

It’s useless because people keep holding it back our railways are at capacity and we desperately need new lines it basically has to go to Crewe otherwise it’s almost pointless

[@gorgu08]

I am so happy people like you will continually be proven wrong over the next three decades as the high speed network expands and directly contributes to the productivity and wealth creation of the UK

[@CRIMSONANT1]

​@@gorgu08.. haha, defo the funniest (& most incorrect) comment of the day 🤣

[@Sam-uo8ki]

Dry your eyes Trev

[@TheLb080680]

Id love to be part of this project more. Ive been involved in some culvert work around Birmingham but would love to be part of this tunneling work.

[@cblairrrr2048]

Fix the roads ruined by 4 tonne cars rather than making trainlines to brumtown

[@xaiano794]

these tracks take heavy vehicles off the road, that's the point