Three huge disused yellow container cranes at Willesden, west London have been removed to make way for a major new HS2 Rail Logistics Hub to support the construction of the new high-speed line’s London tunnels.

The 22 metre high cranes, weighing up to 290 tonnes, have stood above the track next to the busy west coast mainline for almost 30 years. Each one had to be lifted up and moved 100 metres to the side, so they could be safely dismantled away from passing trains.

The removal of the 3 cranes was one of the most complex engineering challenges the project has faced so far, requiring thousands of hours of planning and preparation.

Once complete, 16 freight trains a day are expected to serve the planned Rail Logistics Hub, delivering equipment and construction materials and taking out material excavated by the tunnel boring machines digging the tunnels east to Euston and west to the outskirts of the capital.

In total, the vast 150,000 square-metre rail hub is expected to process more than 6 million tonnes of excavated material, the equivalent of taking 300,000 HGVs off the roads.