SCS JV is building the London tunnels for HS2, a new high – speed railway that will connect 30 million people. But who are we? What exactly are we doing? And how?
Delivering the HS2 London tunnels programme
SCS JV is part of an incredible journey, creating the London tunnels section of HS2 – Britain’s new high-speed railway.
The London tunnels section will take HS2 underground at West Ruislip to travel 13 miles under the city to its terminus at Euston.
This involves constructing a huge tunnel portal at West Ruislip where trains enter and exit the tunnels, five ventilation shafts between Camden and Ealing and a large crossover box at Victoria Road, which will allow trains to cross tracks just outside the platforms to the new Old Oak Common station.
The SCS JV is constructing 13 miles of twin-bore tunnels on the HS2 route to its southern terminus at Euston. The tunnels are built using 7 state-of-the-art tunnel boring machines (TBMs), one was used to construct the logistics tunnel, which will remove 20 lorries a day from London’s roads and a further 4 of which are already in use.
HS2’s tunnels are built using different construction techniques to suit their purpose and local conditions. A green tunnel is where a trench is excavated and roofed over, and the land on top is blended into the landscape. A twin-bore tunnel is where two parallel tunnels, each containing a single rail track, are constructed using tunnel boring machines (TBMs). A rotating cutter-head at the front of the TBM bores the tunnel and the TBM installs the round concrete segments that form the tunnel walls.
