The long-awaited recommencement of tunnelling work on the Old Oak Common to London Euston section of HS2 should be welcomed. After years in the doldrums of cost overruns, uncertainty and political ambivalence, the gargantuan task of burrowing under the streets of Camden once again feels real. It is a reminder that rail infrastructure of any scale takes time, patience and a willingness to live with disruption, as RailFreight.com UK Editor Simon Walton observes.
The HS2 tunnelling turn-on is a cause for encouragement. It does, however, highlight how far Britain’s approach to rail investment still has to evolve. Good intentions alone do not conjure network capacity out of thin air, nor do they excuse a narrow fixation on a single flagship project at the expense of wider freight‑user and self-loading cargo (passengers) needs. Slow or not, the restart of tunnelling is, paradoxically, a welcome step in a direction that should have been clearer in the first place.
Spoil trains: the unglamorous lynchpin
The spotlight may fall on sleek passenger trains and Westminster soundbites, but the real operational hero of this phase will be the humble rumble of the myriad spoil trains. Tunnelling to Euston is being supported by a separate 853‑metre access, which has been patiently waiting since January 2024, specifically to get materials and machinery in and muck out. Some 48,294 concrete ring segments will support the tunnel lining, and more than 1.5 million tonnes of excavated spoil will be removed for reuse. By my reckoning, that’s the equivalent of about 1,000 heavy freight trains leaving London for destinations in Kent, Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire.
That volume of work underlines just how dependent major civil engineering projects are on efficient rail freight operations, often overlooked beneath photos of behemoth tunnel‑boring machines. Spoil needs to move swiftly and reliably if tunnelling faces anything like the schedule planners envisage; and rail — with its capacity, environmental credentials and ability to shift bulk material out of congested urban zones — is uniquely placed to do it. It’s unglamorous, but without it, the whole enterprise just sits underground.
Planning for disruption — credit where due
HS2’s tunnelling restart comes alongside fresh discussion about how Network Rail and HS2 Ltd plan to manage disruption during redevelopment at Euston. Anyone who watched the chaos caused by the recent fire at the old Primrose Hill station — an incident unrelated to HS2 but hugely disruptive — will recall just how fragile London’s rail freight movements can be when even relatively minor blips occur. HS2’s teams have published plans to reroute displaced traffic, reconfigure track layouts and maintain freight paths while works progress. None of it is easy, and all of it will be noticed by freight customers who demand certainty on slots, speed and capacity.
That said, the commitment to keep freight moving during this disruptive chapter does deserve credit. Too often, major infrastructure schemes are planned in splendid isolation from the logistics realities that surround them. Here, the official strategy recognises that freight services are not an add‑on but a vital element of a functioning railway — and that disruption isn’t merely a nuisance, it’s an economic cost. Making space for freight continuity in the construction choreography is both sensible and overdue.
It remains the case, however, that HS2’s wider planning choices have reflected the UK’s longstanding underinvestment in freight priority. The concentration of funds into one massive corridor — and one that will, in practical terms, only carry passengers — leaves many freight bottlenecks elsewhere unaddressed. From pinch points in the North West to critical path upgrades in the Midlands, the network still cries out for targeted capacity upgrades that deliver tangible benefits for both freight and passengers.
Railfreight in the national infrastructure
It’s worth stepping back and reflecting on the bigger picture. Rail freight is not some esoteric hobby for aficionados of painted wagons — it is, quite literally, moving the materials that build and sustain this nation. Take the ongoing Sizewell C nuclear power plant project, for instance. It has its own dedicated railway works designed to bring in construction materials with minimal road disruption. Then there are plans such as Egypt’s newly announced high‑speed network — intended not just for passengers but to haul up to 13 million tonnes of freight. These remind us that around the world, policymakers are recognising the value of rail as a logistics backbone.
That dual utility — shifting people and freight — is precisely what Britain ought to be aiming for. Yet HS2, as currently conceived, will be an exclusively passenger corridor. It might carry parcels at an express level never before seen – but that’s just speculation on my part. There certainly won’t be any sluggish spoil trains sullying its pristine slab tracks (I fully expect these words to be cast back to me in about 2045AD).
In the debate about capacity, why build a new line that maximises speed for a few, when we could build or upgrade lines that maximise capacity for many? The “wrong answer to the right question” line still resonates. Britain’s rail freight future deserves more than being an afterthought to a flagship project.
In it for the long hauls
If the revival of tunnelling work can catalyse real benefits — from the efficient movement of spoil, to opportunities for bulk operators — then there is reason to be optimistic. For an industry that has often had to fight for its place at the table, that’s not to be sniffed at — even if we still have plenty of grilling to do on spend, scope and strategic balance.
Let’s welcome the restarted HS2 tunnelling works. Not with uncritical cheer, but with clear eyes on what it means for rail freight and Britain’s wider network. Spoil trains rolling out of Ealing are a sign of substance, not style. If they remind us that rail freight is indispensable to national infrastructure, then that is a good thing. HS2 may be a contradiction of an adage or two, but for now, the hole we’re digging is starting to yield something a whole lot more useful.