As part of the Network Rail project to electrify one of north-west England’s busiest rail routes, the biggest tunnelling machine in Britain has started work near Bolton.
At 9m in diameter at its cutter head, Fillie the Farnworth tunnel boring machine is bigger than the machines used to build London’s Crossrail (7.1m), the Thames Tideway ‘super sewer’ (8m) and even the Channel Tunnel (8.8m).
The reconstruction of Farnworth tunnel is an important stepping stone towards creating an electrified railway between Manchester and Preston and is part of over £1 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) of investment by Network Rail to improve rail services across the north; electrifying key routes, creating new rail links, improving stations and journeys.
Upgrading the railway through Farnworth posed a particular engineering challenge, as the twin tunnels which carry the railway under the main A666 Manchester to Bolton road aren’t big enough to accommodate the overhead lines which will power a new fleet of electric trains in future.
Photo: Network Rail
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