Video shows painstaking process to move rail tunnel that weighs same as Eiffel Tower into place in Peterborough

The massive 11,000 tonne curved concrete box which weighs more than the Eiffel Tower has been inched into place at Werrington as part of the £1.2 billion East Coast Mainline upgrade.

Engineers have spent the last nine months building the new tunnel by the side of the East Coast Main Line as trains have sped past between London and Edinburgh.

The work is being carried where the East Coast Main Line is crossed by a slow-moving east-west freight route. Installing the tunnel will take slower freight trains off the fast route, speeding up services and improving reliability, while also reducing the amount of maintenance required on that section of track.

The new tunnel is a 155-metre curved concrete box that has been painstakingly pushed at 150cm per hour, using massive jacks to propel and steer it into place. It is the first time this construction technique has been used in this way in the UK.

Using a traditional method of installing a tunnel on the crucial stretch of the line would have meant closing it completely for about a month - but by using the new technique has meant the job has been completed in just nine days.

Paul Rutter, Route Director for Network Rail’s East Coast Route, said: ““This is industry leading work that really puts the needs of passengers first in how we approach improvement work.

“In the past, Network Rail might have approached this problem by thinking about the easiest way to do the engineering. Instead, I’m proud to say we have come up with a creative and innovative solution that will deliver massive benefits while keeping disruption to a minimum.”