HS2 have said that construction of the London section of the railway line will be delayed as the Midlands section has been prioritised. 

Work on the 7.2km tunnel section between Old Oak Common and Euston Station will not begin next year as had been initially scheduled and no new date has been announced. 

Last week a third Tunnel Boring Machine had been launched from Atlas Road in North Acton to create a separate tunnel to deliver materials and remove spoil from the northern portal for construction of the tunnel the trains will go through, and this was due to take six months. 

A spokesperson for the project said: "The two TBMs building the tunnel on this section from the Old Oak Common Box towards Euston were scheduled to begin in 2024, but this is now deferred. 

"The Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel - between Old Oak Common station site and the Atlas Road site - is a precursor to this work and is still continuing. The preparation works for the launch of the two TBMs will also continue." 

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed in January that HS2 will still go all the way to Euston after reports that that section was set to be scrapped to save costs. 

The tunnel from North Acton will be used to transport 8,010 tunnel segment rings to construct the Euston tunnel. 

Malcolm Codling, HS2's Project Client for the London Tunnels, said: "The Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel is key to how we will be constructing the Euston Tunnel between Old Oak Common and HS2's Euston station.  

"The logistics tunnel allows us to take 70,000 lorry journeys off the local roads that would otherwise have been required and will reduce the impact of HS2's construction on the local community."