VETERAN music producer and rail enthusiast Pete Waterman has unveiled the name of HS2's first Midlands tunnelling machine.

The Whitley resident announced the equipment was named Dorothy after Dorothy Hodgkin, who became the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.

The name was suggested by a student at Warwickshire College Group and was the winner from a public vote this summer.

The 2,000-tonne machine will create a one-mile-long twin bore tunnel under Long Itchington Wood, Warwickshire.

 

Pete Waterman at the unveiling of HS2s 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine that will create a one-mile twin bore tunnel under Long Itchington Wood, Warwickshire. The machine has been named Dorothy, after Dorothy Hodgkin the first British woman to win the

Pete Waterman at the unveiling of HS2's 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine

Mr Waterman, 76, who grew up in Coventry but now lives in Cheshire, visited the construction site on Wednesday.

He said: "All my working life I've travelled and commuted by rail. HS2 is a new chapter in rail travel.

"I can only hope that this railway can do for others what railways did for me."

He added: "Our great-grandchildren will thank us. Thousands of people across the West Midlands are working on this project, now. Twenty-thousand people across the UK. That's a massive employer.

"HS2 is creating more jobs than any other industry would ever do."

The tunnel is being created in an attempt to protect the ancient woodland above it.

 

PABest..Pete Waterman (right) talks with Mark Shepherd, Tunnel Technical Co-ordinator for BBV at the unveiling of HS2s 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine that will create a one-mile twin bore tunnel under Long Itchington Wood, Warwickshire. The machine

Pete Waterman (right) talks with Mark Shepherd, Tunnel Technical Co-ordinator for BBV