Intro

There are moments in major infrastructure projects when engineering history and modern project delivery meet in a very literal way.

The recent achievement by the Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture on the HS2 Euston tunnel is one of them.

At approximately 40 metres below Kensal Green Cemetery, the two TBMs constructing the Euston tunnel passed beneath the final resting place of Sir Marc Brunel and Isambard Kingdom Brunel — two pioneers whose work helped shape modern tunnelling.

It is a remarkable technical milestone, but it also highlights something fundamental about major infrastructure projects:

You are not simply building in space. You are building in space and time.

Tunnelling is a time-location challenge

For a tunnel project, knowing where an activity is happening is just as important as knowing when it is happening.

A TBM does not simply have a start date and finish date.

Its progress is linked to:

• Chainage or tunnel position
• Excavation rates
• Ground conditions
• Shift patterns
• Segment installation
• Logistics and material supply
• Shaft and access constraints
• Interfaces with other works
• Planned possessions and access windows

This is where time-location scheduling becomes particularly powerful.

Instead of looking at the project only as a traditional Gantt chart, a time-location schedule allows the project team to see how activities move through space over time.

For linear infrastructure such as tunnels, railways, roads, pipelines and utilities, this can provide a much clearer picture of the construction sequence.

See original article on:
https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/future-of-uk-rail-meets-its-past-hs2-unveils-plaque-in-honour-of-brunel-family

From Brunel’s tunnelling to today’s digital planning

The Brunels pioneered tunnelling techniques that transformed what was possible underground.

Today, the challenge has evolved.

Modern project teams have access to sophisticated digital planning tools, but the underlying question remains remarkably similar:

How do we safely move people, equipment and construction activities through a physical environment over time?

That is exactly where tools such as TILOS can add value.

At Ecostar Plan Ltd, we provide Time Location Scheduling and TILOS training for project planners, engineers and construction professionals working on linear infrastructure projects.

Our training focuses not only on learning the software, but on understanding the planning logic behind time-location scheduling and how it can support real project delivery.

Why TILOS matters for major infrastructure

A traditional schedule might tell you:

Tunnel excavation — January to June.

A time-location schedule can help you understand:

Where the excavation team should be along the alignment on each date, how fast the work is progressing, and where activities may conflict.

That difference can be extremely valuable when managing complex infrastructure.

It allows planners and project teams to visualise:

Time + Location + Production + Interfaces

on the same planning view.

And when the project moves from baseline planning into progress updates, the same visual approach can help identify deviations from the planned production rate and understand where recovery actions may be required.

The future of infrastructure planning

Projects such as HS2 demonstrate the scale, complexity and precision required to deliver modern infrastructure.

But beneath the technology, TBMs and sophisticated engineering systems, one principle remains constant:

Construction happens somewhere, and it happens over time.

Understanding both dimensions is essential.

From the pioneering work of Brunel to today’s digitally enabled infrastructure programmes, the evolution of tunnelling is also a story about how we plan and control construction.

At Ecostar Plan, we are proud to contribute to that evolution by helping project professionals develop practical skills in TILOS, Time Location Scheduling and linear infrastructure planning.

Because sometimes, the best way to understand a complex project is not just to ask:

“When will we build it?”

but also:

“Where will we be when we build it?”