Last November 24th, the night shift at PACADAR’s manufacturing facility in Kent, reached ring number 1.000 for HS2’s LONG ITCHINGTONG WOOD tunnel. The tunnel is being built by HS2’s construction partner BBV-JV (Balfour Beatty - Vinci) who are leading construction of the section of the new railway between Warwickshire, Birmingham and Staffordshire. The contract for the manufacturing and supply of 1,600 precast tunnel linings was signed in July 2020.
Following our firm commitment with innovation and sustainability, we are using a concrete mix made up of 40% slag from recycled materials from the steel industry, which entails to a considerable reduction of CO2 emission in the production of each ring.
The 2,000t and approx. 10 m diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM) “Dorothy” will take around five months to complete the first of the twin bore tunnels under Long Itchington Wood, with breakthrough expected in spring 2022.
This first phase of Britain’s new zero carbon high-speed rail network make it possible to travel the 140-mile distance between London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street 45 minutes.
To date, PACADAR has produced in its facilities in the UK a total of 8,044 tunnel rings for the Thames Tideway Central Section and for this Long Itchington wood Tunnel achieving the highest quality standards and complying with all the specifications of the projects.
We want to congratulate the entire team in the UK for this accomplishment!