Construction begins on tunnel from west London to Euston

Work has started to dig the tunnel that will take HS2 from west London to Euston in the capital’s centre.

The first of two boring machines was switched on by Rail Minister Lord Hendy and Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Prime Minister, at Old Oak Common on Tuesday.

The 190m-long boring machine is named Madeleine, after Madeleine Nobbs, the former president of the Women’s Engineering Society.

Uncertainty surrounds the timetable of HS2 and overall cost of the new high-speed rail line, as the results of a “reset” are awaited.

There have been reports the project could cost £100bn, even after the legs to Manchester and Leeds were scrapped.

Madeleine was built in Germany and transported to the UK in parts. A 750-tonne crane lifted the components into an underground box at one end of the station, where it was reassembled.

Madeleine’s companion machine is named Karen, after Karen Harrison, the first female train driver in the UK, who was based out of the Old Oak Common depot.

Under the previous government, there were doubts over whether HS2 would terminate in Euston due to funding costs. In 2023, work on a new station at Euston was put on pause.

Then-prime minister Rishi Sunak said extending the high-speed rail project from Old Oak Common to Euston would be reliant on private investment.

However, in her Budget in October the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, committed to the funding required to begin tunnelling work to Euston.

It is still not clear exactly what the station will look like, or when it will be completed.

A new body, the Euston Delivery Company, is due to lead delivery of what the government says will be an “affordable and integrated transport hub”. This new body has yet to be established.

The government says taking HS2 to Euston is “essential to unlocking the project’s full economic potential”.