Moment machine digging HS2’s longest tunnel breaks through after 10-mile journey

The moment a machine digging HS2’s longest tunnel broke through after a 10 miles under the Chiltern Hills was captured on video on Tuesday, 27 February.

Workers cheered and fireworks went off as Florence, named after Florence Nightingale, completed its journey near South Heath, Buckinghamshire.

It was launched in May 2021 near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, to dig one of a pair of tunnels with a depth of up to 80 metres that will be used for HS2 trains travelling between London and Birmingham.

A second machine is due to break through in the coming weeks.