Crossrail Tunneling Complete
Crossrail’s tunneling marathon under London is now complete. Crossrail tunneling began in May 2012 and ended at Farringdon with the arrival of TBM Victoria. Over the last three years, eight 1,000 tonne tunnelling machines have bored 42 km (26 miles) of new 6.2-m diameter rail tunnels under London.
Teams of dedicated workers have been working 24 hours a day to complete the tunnels for Europe’s largest civil engineering project with thousands of others employed to upgrade the existing rail network and build major new stations in central London and Docklands.
The tunnels weave their way between existing underground lines, sewers, utility tunnels and building foundations from station to station at depths of up to 42 m. TBM Victoria, named after Queen Victoria who oversaw the birth of modern railways, successfully broke into Farringdon Crossrail station on May 23 at 5: 30 am. Victoria then constructed the remaining section of Crossrail tunnel as she progressed into Farringdon station, completing the job and linking all Crossrail tunnels.
Crossrail tunneling ended on May 26, 2015 when Victoria completed her journey. Farringdon is one of 10 new Crossrail stations being built in central London, Docklands and southeast London. The new station will have connections to both London Underground and Thameslink. Farringdon will have the longest platforms on Crossrail at 350 m so that passengers can connect to both Farringdon and Barbican Tube stations.
Crossrail construction commenced in 2009 at Canary Wharf and is now 65 percent complete. Services through central London will commence in 2018.
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