HS2 launches first Midlands TMB

HS2 contractor BBV has launched the first tunnel boring machine on the Midlands section of the high-speed rail route.
Around 170 engineers have been working on the 2,000 tonne, 125m-long TBM during its construction and assembly.
An expert tunnelling team will now work around the clock in shifts to operate TBM Dorothy for around five months as it excavates the first bore of a one-mile tunnel under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire.
Dorothy cutterhead being lifted into place
This is set to be t