The two 650-tonne tunnel boring machines (TBM) which will be used to construct London Underground’s Northern line extension have been completed.
The TBMs will now undergo testing before being dismantled later this year and shipped from NFM Technologies’ factory in France to London.
Tunnelling works for the new line, which will link Battersea with Kennington via Nine Elms, will start in early 2017. It will be the first significant extension of the London Underground network since the Jubilee line.
The tunnelling programme will take six months to complete.
Nick Brown, managing director of London Underground, said: “This is the first glimpse of the powerful machines that will help build the Northern Line Extension and bring Battersea and surrounding areas to within 15 minutes of the West End and City.
“The TBMs will make their way to London later this year and in early 2017 will start powering their way under south London to create the first major Tube extension since the Jubilee line in the late 1990s.
“Their manufacture is a significant step forward in the project which, once complete, will help us to support jobs, homes and growth in this area and keep pace with London’s rapidly rising population.”
