Giant tunnel slips into place on time

An epic bid to push a 6,500 ton concrete tunnel beneath a Black Country rail embankment has been declared a success.

Work to slide a giant tunnel under Tipton's Owen Street rail line was completed this morning, within the 5am deadline, making it one of the fastest projects of its type.

It marks the end of a major stage of the two year project to create a £22 million tunnel, which it is hoped will alleviate congestion which has dogged the town centre for years.

Engineers have been working flat out over the Easter weekend to inch the giant tunnel through the land while they took possession of the rail lines for 101 hours.

It was pushed at a rate of 8ft (2.5 metres) and hour, which design manager Dominic Hull said was the fastest he has known. Usually it would take 12 hours to move the same distance.

"We can't say for definite but it's certainly the fastest we have ever done and I don't know of any other projects which have been as quick," he said.

Sandwell's regeneration chief Councillor Bob Badham said today: "It all went to plan and has been very successful."

Engineers have been working 24 hours a day since Friday to inch the 190ft concrete sleeve through the earth and beneath the rail tracks.

The tunnel was heaved into its final position early Sunday morning and workers worked through the night to compound the earth beneath the rail lines and re-lay the tracks.

The tunnel is 300 metres further down the track from the level crossing, which is the last on the West Coast Mainline.

A section of the railway between Wolverhampton and London Euston was shut down while the work was carried out and Sandwell council could have been fined thousands of pounds a day if it overran.