page_title: Woodsmith Mine Tunnel
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Woodsmith Mine Tunnel / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Above ground works at the Lockwood Beck site for the Woodsmith Mine tunnel
context_page_description: The Woodsmith Mine Tunnel is a 23-mile long tunnel that will stretch between Woodsmith Mine at Sneatonthorpe near Whitby in North Yorkshire and the Wilton International complex on Teesside, England. The tunnel has been in development since 2016, but cutting of the tunnel bore did not start until April 2019, with an expected finish date of 2021. By the end of July 2020, over 4 miles of tunnel had been dug out.
  When finished, the tunnel will be the longest tunnel in the United Kingdom and will also house the longest conveyor in the UK. The estimated cost of the tunnel in November 2018 was £1.1 billion.
context_section_description: In July 2016, the UK Government awarded Sirius Minerals a Development Consent Order for the harbour facilities on Teesside. At that time, a different developer was shortlisted for the work on the tunnel which was also envisaged as needing five TBMs. This was later downgraded to three TBMs.
  Whilst preparatory work was started in 2016, a ceremony to "break ground" at the Wilton site was held in June 2018 with Jake Berry, the MP for the Northern Powerhouse project. In February 2019, the first of three Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) was delivered to the Wilton site via Teesport. The first TBM, named Stella Rose after a naming competition with local schoolchildren, started boring in early April 2019. A spokesperson for Sirius Minerals commented on the tunnel stating that "we’re actually tunnelling in a rock that is relatively easy to cut, from a tunnelling point of view. It’s also relatively stable, and we’re not going through any cross measures; we’re not going from one geological horizon to another, which is where tunnels normally have more issues." By September 2019, progress had extended to 1-mile (1.6 km) of complete tunnelling with rails, connections and concrete interiors.
  The tunnelling contract was split into three sections; Drive 1 was from Wilton to Lockwood Beck, Drive 2 was from Lockwood Beck southwards and Drive 3 was from Woodsmith Mine to Lockwood Beck northwards. Initially, an Austrian company, Strabag, were awarded the first tunnelling contract for the 8.1-mile (13 km) section from Wilton to Lockwood Beck. This would involve 490 feet (150 m) of cut and cover, 2,600 feet (800 m) of conventional tunnelling and 7.4 miles (11.9 km) of using a TBM in a south easterly direction. In November 2018, it was revealed that Strabag had been awarded the contract for the other two sections (nominally 7.5 miles (12 km) per section on average), and so would be the sole contracting company for the tunnel project. The TBMs will process through the route tunnelling at the front of the machine, whilst the middle and rear sections, add concrete lining to the tunnel walls.
  The first TBM, Stella Rose, weighs 1,800 tonnes (2,000 tons) and is 738 feet (225 m) long. The concrete segments are 4 feet 11 inches (1.5 m) in length and a special concreting plant has been built to supply the TBMs as they progress through the tunnel, lining the route with over 150,000 concrete segments.
  Three ventilation shafts will be constructed at Lady Cross Plantation, near Egton, Lockwood Beck and at Tocketts Lythe. Lady Cross Plantation is within the North York Moors National Park whilst the other two sites are outside the park and are located within Redcar and Cleveland. The access and ventilation shafts are planned to be 30 feet (9 m) in diameter.
  From Woodsmith Mine site
  Conveyor into tunnel is estimated to be about 1,181 feet (360 m) in depth
  The shaft at Tocketts Lythe will be smaller than the others as it is not envisaged to have a conveyor transfer. Lockwood Beck and Lady Cross plantation will be larger caverns to accommodate the crossover in conveyors and for the passing of maintenance trains. Lockwood Beck would also need a larger diameter shaft as it will be a setting off site for one of the TBMs.
  By the end of July 2020, the length of tunnel that hd been dug out had reached 4.5 miles (7.2 km).
caption: Above ground works at the Lockwood Beck site for the Woodsmith Mine tunnel
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