WORK to build the huge ‘station box’ at HS2’s Old Oak Common site began last month.
It is a reinforced concrete structure that will form the frame and base for the HS2 station building.
Once complete, Old Oak Common is set to be the best connected and largest new railway station ever built in the UK in a single stage.
The main construction of the 850m-long box involves excavating 20m below ground level, removing 690,000 cubic metres of clay, before placing 32,000 tonnes of steel and pouring 190,000 cubic tonnes of reinforced concrete.
This operation allows the ground-floor slab to be built initially with a series of mole holes, allowing access for the large excavators to remove the earth from within.
Construction of the box at the east end of the site allows tunnel boring machines to be launched towards Euston.
The west of the site is where the spray concrete-lined tunnel between Old Oak Common and the Victoria Road Crossover box finishes.
Once complete, Old Oak Common will have 14 platforms and allow a mixture of six high-speed and eight conventional service platforms.
Old Oak Common will provide high-speed rail services to the North, Wales and the West as well as trains to central London and Heathrow.
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