On 20 January 2017, at a ceremony in the NLE (Northern Line Extension) Battersea Power Station site, the Ferrovial, Agroman/ Laing O’Rourke (FLO) joint venture, unveiled the names of the two 650 t and 6m diameter TBMs, that will be used to build the major part of the tunnels for the new Northern Line Extension under South London. The names are Helen and Amy in honour of the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman, and British aviation pioneer Amy Johnson, who was the first female pilot to fly solo from Britain to Australia.

The TBMs will dig two 3.2km underground tunnels to extend the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line from Kennington to Battersea, via Nine Elms. The Northern Line Extension will bring Battersea and surrounding areas to within 15 minutes of the West End and the City

The machines will tunnel to depths of up to 26 metres for six months, excavating more than 300,000 tonnes of earth which will be passed along a conveyor, then loaded onto barges and taken to Goshems Farm in East Tilbury, Essex, where it will be used to create arable farmland. For further information please click uk/79 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://tfl.gov.uk, http://www.ferrovial.com and http://www.laingorourke.com. 07/17.