In a decade’s time, passengers on the new high-speed trains hurtling out of London will get just a burst of daylight and a glimpse of the Colne Valley landscape before disappearing back underground through the Chiltern Hills.
Today, in that three-mile stretch between future tunnel openings to the north-west of the capital, the £98bn HS2 project’s scale, engineering might and cost are all evident: both at the vast work site scooped out beside the M25 in Buckinghamshire, and in nearby waters and woods where protesters are still encamped to stop machines coming through.
What was billed as the formal start of construction of HS2 began in September, after years of design, preparatory work and demolition. Funds were finally released for major works for phase one of HS2 between London and Birmingham after the government reviewed its decision one more time, with Boris Johnson giving the go-ahead in February.