HS2 engineers are celebrating completing a successful five-mile tunnelling drive under London.

The giant Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), named Sushila, reached the Green Park Way vent shaft in Ealing last month, breaking through into a reception can filled with foam concrete.

The 8.4-mile twin-bored Northolt Tunnel is being constructed by a quartet of machines named Sushila, Caroline, Emily and Anne.

They will complete the tunnel that will carry high-speed trains between HS2's 'super-hub' station at Old Oak Common, west London, and the outskirts of the capital at West Ruislip.

Sushila, named after a local school teacher, was the first to start and is the first to complete the journey. All four will finish their journeys at Green Park Way, arriving in a main and satellite shaft.

HS2 and its partners will also construct the Euston Tunnel eastward from Old Oak Common to the centre of London.

Launched in October 2022 from West Ruislip, TBM Sushila has excavated over 1.2 million tonnes of earth and installed 4,217 tunnel rings.

All the earth excavated by the machine has been placed in two areas west of the tunnel, eliminating the need to use public roads for lorry removal.

These areas will be turned into wildlife meadows and wooded areas as part of HS2's Green Corridor.

Sushila Hirani, a local school teacher after whom the TBM was named, said: "To have had the opportunity to witness the progress of the TBM over the last two years has been a real honour.

'I am in awe of the sheer scale and incredible work of the engineers and excited for the day I will be able to take my first HS2 train journey through the tunnel".

Macolm Codling, HS2's Client Director for the London Tunnels, added: "This is our first breakthrough for the Northolt Tunnel and is the result of many years of hard work from our tunnelling contractor.

"We are on schedule to complete our first tunnel for HS2 trains under the capital by the end of 2025, just as we prepare to bring HS2 tunnels into the heart of the London at Euston."

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