Collins Earthworks has done the excavation in the north portal site of HS2 Long Itchington Wood tunnel. This midlands-based contractor is contracted to HS2’s main works contractor BBV Joint Venture (Balfour Beatty and Vinci Construction).
The JV is responsible for building the northern section of HS2 as it heads into Birmingham. Besides, the site is now ready for the launch of the tunnel boring machine that will dig under ancient Warwickshire woodland.
The works on the HS2 site since April 2020 accomplish excavating 300,000 cubic metres of soil, with a crew of 120 people from Collins Earthworks. This covers the topsoil and subsoils stored and separated with a layer of straw.
In the same way, they can be put back after the tunnel has been built. There were 35 machines on site during the busy times of work, including one of the new Cat D6 XE dozers with diesel-electric drive.
The German manufacturer Herrenknecht has sent segments of the 2,000-tonne tunnel boring machine to the site which will be reassembled and ready to start drilling in the summer. It will take five months to dig the first bore of the tunnel.
 Later, it will be extracted at the south portal before being transported by road back to the north portal to start the second bore. Collins Earthworks is also preparing HS2’s sites at Long Itchington’s south portal, Washwood Heath, Bromford Tunnel portal, among others.
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