Earth Movers Break Records On High Speed Rail Project Ahead Of Deadline

The HS2 project may have its detractors, but it has enabled the construction sector to scale new heights and burrow to new depths as progress continues on the first section of the line.

Proof of this has come from many parts of the project, the latest being the revelation from contractor EKFB that it has managed to more than 15 million cubic metres of earth in 20 months.

The partnership, which comprises construction firms Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall, has managed the feat on a section that runs through Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.

This task was completed by the end of October a week ahead of schedule, with the volume of soil being enough to fill Wembley Stadium four times over.

It noted that this is appreciably faster than the earth-moving progress on other projects, giving the example of the eight million cubic metres of earth and rock removed over three years in the A14 upgrade.

However, this milestone is just part of the mammoth task of excavation on the 80km stretch of the line between London and Birmingham. Winter construction work clothes will be essential as EKFB workers keep going over the next few months on an undertaking that will eventually see 53 million cubic tonnes of rock and earth being excavated. 

Commenting on the progress made so far, EKFB earthworks director Mark Harrington said: “Moving more than 15 million cubic metres of earth in such a short timescale is a phenomenal achievement.”

He added: “This is large-scale earthworks on a level that hasn’t been seen before on a linear project in the UK.”

All the excavated material will be re-used by HS2 in constructing embankments, screening mounds and nearby landscaping projects, helping to buttress the line, minimise noise impact and create positive environmental outcomes such as developing new wildlife habitats.

As EKFB managing director Helen Samuels noted, the “huge” undertaking includes not just cutting lots of embankments, but establishing the foundations for 15 viaducts and 81 bridges as well as three cut-and-cover tunnels. 

The tunnelling work on HS2 is itself the subject of some unprecedented feats and eye-popping statistics.

Among the great innovations was the first instance in the UK of a tunnelling machine being reassembled at the end of a dig and re-used, instead of being permanently entombed below ground. 

Known as Dorothy, the 2,000-tonne machine was dismantled after boring one of the two mile-long tunnels under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. It has now started on the second tunnel in the opposite direction. 

The Long Itchington Tunnel is the sixth one to commence work in the HS2 project, but the first time a tunnel boring machine has been re-used in this way.

A total of 103 km (64 miles) of tunnel will be built between London and the West Midlands alone, with more to come as other tunnels will be constructed under Crewe town centre and for seven miles under south Manchester. The longest tunnel, running under the Chilterns, will be ten miles in length.