The name of HS2’s first TBM on the northern section of Phase One has been unveiled. During a ceremony on the construction site, which is managed by HS2 joint venture Balfour Beatty VINCI, the legendary music producer and rail enthusiast Pete Waterman revealed that the TBM is called ‘Dorothy’ – named after Dorothy Hodgkin, who in 1964 became the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Her discoveries included confirming the structure of penicillin, and her work with insulin paved the way for it to be used on a large scale for treatment of diabetes. She died in 1994 in Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire.  ‘Dorothy’ was suggested by a student at Warwickshire College Group and was the winning name in a public vote this summer.  

HS2 is finalising the preparation of the TBM -  which is 2,000 t in weight and 10 m wide - to start digging the one-mile tunnel under Long Itchington Wood.   

Manufactured in Germany by Herrenknecht, the TBM will take around five months to complete the first bore of two parallel tunnels. When it breaks through at the south portal, the machine will be brought back to the north portal to dig a second tunnel, creating the twin bore tunnel.  

The tunnel, which will preserve the ancient woodland above, forms a key element in how HS2 is managing environmental impacts through the design of the railway, preserving Britain’s precious biodiversity. 

For further information please click here, here and uk/65 for more detailed project information in the tunnelbuilder archive and  visit https://www.hs2.org.uk/. 43/21.