The new machines will be delivered in time for Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Rourke – FLO joint venture – to launch in summer 2016.

During construction of the £1bn project around 1,000 construction jobs and around 50 apprenticeships will be supported.

Both machines will then begin a seven-month 2.5km journey from Battersea to Kennington.

Each TBM  cutting head will be just over 6m in diameter and the full machine itself will be 106m long.

FLO will transport at least 70% of the waste from the TBM work by river to minimise the number of lorries on the road.

Two new stations will be constructed – one at the heart of the Battersea Power Station redevelopment and another at Nine Elms to the east, serving new developments such as the US Embassy and the redevelopment of New Covent Garden Market, as well as existing communities.

David Darcy, FLO project director for the NLE said: “At FLO, we are very pleased to have awarded this significant procurement package, crucial to the delivery of the NLE project. We are totally confident that NFM Technologies will fulfil all the requirements for the safe completion and delivery of the TBM tunnelling.”

The Northern Line extension is being funded entirely through contributions from the developments in the area that will benefit from the extension.

An innovative funding package has been agreed between the Mayor of London and Government, which includes the creation of an Enterprise Zone from 2016 for a period of 25 years.