This was the dramatic moment a colossal machine, used to dig HS2’s Birmingham approach tunnels, smashed through a wall to finally reach the city after a 19-month journey.

The enormous 125-metre-long 'boring machine' surfaced yesterday , October 13, after one year and seven months of drilling between Water Orton and Washwood Heath.

Footage captured the machine breaking through - thus completing the three-and-a-half mile tunnel and signalling the end of excavations for all tunnels from London to Birmingham .

READ MORE: Nineteen-mile tunnel dug 130ft below Birmingham finishes epic task

The machine, named Elizabeth after the 19th century philanthropist Elizabeth Cadbury, was launched near Water Orton in Warwickshire in March 2024.

Two identical machines were used to dig the 3.5 m

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