We are standing in a huge construction site, 16m (52ft) underground in Acton, north-west London, inside what is called “the box”.
Huge excavators are removing piles of London clay. This is where the high-speed rail link HS2 will stop initially in London. There will be six 400m-long (1,300ft) platforms here.
On top of that, eight conventional platforms will be built to link to services from the Elizabeth line, the Heathrow Express and Great Western.
The site will eventually be the newest and largest station in the UK and will totally change the area.
Some 24,000 homes will be here as well as a park, retail and offices. It’s hoped it’ll also create 65,000 jobs.
Old Oak Common could be the terminal for HS2 for nearly a decade.
James Richardson is managing director of Skanska Costain Strabag, who are drilling the tunnels to Old Oak from Ruislip. He says the impact on the area will be huge.
“I think people need to recognise that this is probably going to be similar to what we saw at Stratford with the actual large scale works that happened there.
“I was there and part of the team delivering that. I think what’s been great to see afterwards is not just what’s happening here in the box in the actual station, but the amount of development and the amount of infrastructure and benefit that has been delivered after that,” he explains.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2e2nprp865o
