Tunnelling for a controversial £100billion high-speed rail line is set to begin underneath 400-year-old ancient woodland in the West Midlands.
Tunnelling work is due to begin in Long Itchington Wood, Warwickshire, as part of phase one of the HS2 high-speed rail line, which will run between Birmingham and London.
A mile-long twin bore tunnel is set to be dug underneath the ancient woodland, which is more than 400 years old and is a Site of Special Scientific interest.
Recent criticisms have raised concerns about the high-speed rail project. Some question whether it is worth the huge price tag. Others claim that it poses a threat to the UK’s ancient forests.
And the rail industry are braced for a downsizing of a major section of the HS2 in a report expected to be published during or after the Cop26 summit.
According to HS2’s website, the Long Itchington Wood Tunnel ‘is an important part of HS2’s environmental strategy to protect nature’.
Drone images show the progress that has been made on the site near the village over the summer as tunnelling work is about to get underway to create the 9.6 metre-wide structure.
As part of phase one, the HS2 high speed rail line will run between Birmingham, London, and Long Itchington Wood (pictured), Tunnelling work will begin in Long Itchington Wood.
The tunnel will be dug using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), named Dorothy after Dorothy Hodgkin who was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.
Ten tunnel boring machines measuring 170 metres in length and weighing up to 2,200 tons, can be used to bore and line tunnels. They cover approximately 15 meters per day.
The tunnel boring machine will move south towards London to dig the tunnel. Meanwhile, a second tunnel is being dug to create a twin bore tunnel. Each of the tunnels will take about five months to dig.
According to HS2’s website, the final stage of the project will see a green tunnel’ constructed. This soil ‘roof’ is constructed around the tunnel entrance to integrate the tunnel into the natural landscape.
Long Itchington Wood and the neighbouring Ufton Wood date from at least 1600AD and have complex eco-systems which have formed across hundreds of years.
The high-speed rail line has previously been deemed ‘a grave threat to the UK’s ancient woods, with 108 at risk of loss or damage’ by conservation charity The Woodland Trust.
However, HS2 states that 0.29 kilometres (0.11 miles) of ancient forest will be lost in the first phase.
HS2 stated that it has planted over 340,000 trees and created 62 new habitats for wildlife in the Midlands. HS2 also stated that it aims at planting seven million trees during phase 1.
Drone images show the progress made at the site near the village this summer, as tunnelling work begins to build the structure measuring 9.6 metres wide.
Critics have recently criticized the high-speed rail line, questioning whether it is worth the enormous price tag.
Meanwhile, Northern leaders and the rail industry are braced for a downsizing of the a major section of the HS2 in a report expected to be published during or after the Cop26 summit.
It is not expected that the high-speed rail connecting Birmingham and Leeds, also known by the ‘eastern legs’, will be laid in its entirety.
This means that HS2 trains will travel at slower speeds on existing tracks for up to 60 miles between the two cities.
According to sources familiar, ministers are considering plans that could increase journey times by up to an hour.
However, the compromise was reached after pressure from northern pro-HS2 leaders. It is possible that around 80 miles of high speed track could still be laid.
The purpose-built hub in Toton, Nottinghamshire, would be demolished. Instead, approximately 50 miles worth of high-speed rail would connect Birmingham with East Midlands Parkway station.
At this point, HS2 trains could join the existing Midland mainline, which would be upgraded.
It would take trains at a slower pace than was planned up to Clayton, West Yorkshire. There, 30 miles of high-speed rail would connect to Leeds.
Sources indicated earlier this week that the planned changes would result in a significant scaling back of the project.
The proposals could save between £10billion and £20billion and comes after Treasury officials raised concerns about HS2’s spiralling costs, which have tripled to more than £100billion over the past decade.
Andy Burnham, Manchester mayor said: “It calls for the promise of leveling up into serious question.”
Jim McMahon was Labour’s transport spokesperson. [Government]If they fail to deliver, the Midlands’ and North’s people will rightly feel betrayed after years spent listening to empty words and slogans.
HS2 will link London and Birmingham in phase 1 before splitting into two sections. The western leg linking Birmingham and Manchester is expected to proceed.
After being delayed since January, the Integrated Rail Plan will be published in mid-November.
It comes after a Conservative MP told the Commons in September that the HS2 high-speed rail line is a ‘loss-making’ project which will not be completed before 2041.
Under the ancient woodland, which is over 400 years old, a mile-long twin bore tunnel will be dug.
Ten tunnel boring machines measuring 170 metres in length and weighing up to 2,200 tons, can be used to bore and line tunnels. They are capable of covering approximately 15 meters per day.
Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP North West Leicestershire, stated to Parliament that he had been informed by a whistleblower from HS2 Ltd. The whistleblower claimed that the first stage of the line, which will run between London and Birmingham (roughly 10 years later than planned), would not open until 2041.
He said to MPs, “Experts in the field estimate the energy requirements for HS2 trains to be five times that of conventional railways.”
He added, “Can we have a lengthy debate on the effect of HS2 Government’s energy policies and the level of subsidy that loss-making project will need to receive annually?
“Could this debate be held before 2041, when my whistleblower at HS2 says that the first phase of the project will actually be able transport passengers between London and Birmingham?”
Work suspensions, social distancing and reduced productivity over the past 12 months saw HS2’s costs soar by another £1.7bn in September – with the project’s estimated overall budget now swelling over £106billion.
Jacob Rees Mogg, Commons Leader, dismissed Mr Bridgen’s claims, saying that whistleblowing was more steam engine-like than fast high-speed trains. But never mind.
‘Obviously, it takes more energy to run a train that is 440 feet long than Ivor the Engine.
“And that is of course something which has to be built in the overall energy plans for this country.
“But, the cost of energy to operate HS2 has been accounted in the overall business case. This energy will be procured on the open market at a time that allows for operations to begin and provides value for the taxpayer.
He said that Mr Bridgen’s figures were incorrect and added: ‘The delivery of HS2 Phase one remains 2029-2033. So I am interested in his whistle blower, and I will of course transmit the whistle to the Secretary for State for Transport.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport (DfT), stated that they are making significant progress in delivering HS2, which is a key part of their promise to rebuild better from Covid-19.
“The project has already supported more than 20,000 job opportunities, construction on Phase 1 is underway, and MPs have backed the Phase 2a route.
“We will continue to control pressures and, as our latest update to Parliament confirms, Phase 1 remains within budget & on schedule.
“The Integrated Rail Plan will soon describe how major rail projects including HS2 Phase 2b will work together to deliver reliable train services that passengers across North and Midlands.
The rail industry is preparing to see a significant section of HS2 being reduced in a report that will be published after the Cop26 summit. Pictured: Boris Johnson visits the Solihull Interchange construction site for the HS2 high-speed railway project near Birmingham in September 2020
HS2 trains can run at slower speeds for up to 60 miles on existing tracks. Pictured: Boris Johnson visits Solihull Interchange construction in September 2020
Phase 1 of HS2 was scheduled to open in 2026. But Transport Sinister Grant Shapps announced that the opening date will be pushed back to 2028 or 2031 in an update to Parliament in 2019.
In its March 2021 six-monthly report on HS2, the DfT stated that the DfT projected delivery into service dates between 2029 to 2033.
One contractor familiar with the project stated that HS2 Ltd, a state-funded entity responsible for delivering it, ‘doesn’t really understand how much Covid has been added’. MailOnline reached out to HS2 Ltd for comment.
After more than a decade planning, Phase 1 construction began in August 2013. However, Treasury fears that HS2 could be a tax-paying black hole due to its rising costs.
MailOnline was previously informed by the Department for Transport that there were ‘unavoidable expenses’ due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MailOnline was told by a DfT spokesperson that the focus of the department is on controlling costs to ensure that this new railway offers its many benefits at a value-for-money cost for taxpayers.
“The response to Covid-19 is ongoing, and final assessments of its effects have not been made.”
HS2 stated that the high-speed rail will reduce travel times between London and northern England, and increase capacity for Britain’s already crowded rail network.
But critics are questioning whether the rail line’s high price tag is worth it, especially after a pandemic which could change peoples’ travel habits.
According to HS2 Ltd, the first phase linking London to Birmingham will open between 2029 to 2033.
Boris Johnson joined HS2’s front line in September to witness the shovels hitting the ground in Solihull.
He claimed that the 2009 “incredible” scheme would create not only 22,000 new jobs, but many thousands more high-skilled positions in the future.