Crossrail Workers Celebrate A Year Of Tunnelling On London Transport Project
Workers Celebrate Four Years Of CrossRail Construction
Christopher York— The Huffington Post UK
Crossrail workers have celebrated a full year of tunnelling by dedicating a birthday cake to one of their boring machines, Phyllis.
The faithful mechanical tunneller has constructed more than 4km of tunnel, starting at Royal Oak in west London and will finish her journey at Farringdon later this year.
The project is about much more than just building a vast new transport network as a number of grisly finds prove.
The UK's biggest archeology excavation is working alongside the tunnellers and has already uncovered fascinating glimpses of London's past including a black death burial pit at Farringdon.
Eight new underground stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Woolwich will be built
A new surface station will also be constructed at Custom House
Crossrail will increase the capacity of London’s rail based public transport network by 10 per cent
An estimated 200 million people will travel on Crossrail each year
Phyllis (one of the TBMs) is currently under Hyde Park having completed 2.9km of tunnel and is now heading for Crossrail’s Bond Street Station western ticket hall in Davies Street
At least two-thirds of all Crossrail excavated material, more than 4.5m tonnes, will be used to create the new RSPB nature reserve at Wallasea Island, creating Europe’s largest man-made coastal reserve
Crossrail
Connaught Tunnels (01 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Pudding Mill Lane tunnel portal(02 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Stepney Green Shaft (03 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Tottenham Court Road Station(04 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Wallasea Island new nature reserve (05 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Whitechapel new station (06 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Plumstead Portal (07 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Canary Wharf(08 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Finsbury Circus(09 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Paddington(10 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
O2 Arena(11 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Crossrail Tunnel Boring Machine - cutterhead being installed at Westbourne Park_ 31 January 2012(12 of32)
Open Image Modal
(credit:Crossrail)
Crossrail Tunnel Boring Machine - cutterhead being installed at Westbourne Park_ 31 January 2012(13 of32)