Infrastructure Tunnelling, according to Crossrail
programme director Andy Mitchell, is scheduled to start in autumn 2011 when the first tunnel boring machine will be launched at Royal Oak, west of Paddington, and will head east towards Farringdon. This will be followed by the launch of further tunnel boring machines in Docklands, heading towards Farringdon under central London. Teams of construction workers will work 24 hours a day to complete the tunnels for Europe’s largest civil engineering project. Ahead of the start of tunnelling, much
has already been achieved. Work sites across London – for stations, shafts and support facilities – testify to the scale of the project. Enabling works are well under way at the portal sites at Pudding Mill Lane and Royal Oak, where the first section of diaphragm wall that will form the actual tunnel portal was installed in late August. London’s West End has been
transformed. The Bond Street station sites at Davies Street and Hanover Square have been levelled, creating vast empty spaces. It’s a similar story for Tottenham Court Road where the combination of Crossrail and Tube station expansion works mean a building site stretches from close to Foyle’s bookshop on Charing Cross Road to the junction with Oxford Street. At the western entrance site, the block around Dean Street has been demolished. At Farringdon, plans for the new Thameslink ticket hall have been altered to provide a more cost- effective joint Thameslink/Crossrail facility. Construction of this new building started in July, and when the Thameslink hall opens in late 2011 or early 2012, work will continue behind the scenes to get the interchange ready for Crossrail. Perhaps the most visible signs of
progress are at Canary Wharf, where Canary Wharf Contractors has drained 98 million litres of water out of the North Dock. Piling from the dock bed has been completed and the casting of the dock bed level B3 concrete slab is now underway. Subsequent excavations below will culminate in the casting of the B6 slab at track level, 18 metres below the dock bed – that’s 32 metres below Canary Wharf street level. There’s also plenty of activity at Paddington, where Carillion is carrying out enabling works for
The Paddington Integrated Project site in April (top) and September 2010 (above) with the old taxi ramp on the right now removed
the Paddington Integrated Project. This will eventually allow the taxi rank at Paddington to be relocated to the other side of the station so that a new Crossrail station can be built underneath. Before this can happen, a new taxi ramp must be constructed above the Hammersmith & City line Tube station, which, in turn, is being rebuilt before the new taxi facility makes it inaccessible to engineers. But Crossrail isn’t just about what
happens underground. With responsibility for upgrading 47 miles of track, redeveloping 28 stations and renewing 15 bridges, Network Rail has a major role to play. In August, the company submitted a £2.3bn
‘As Crossrail develops, its influence touches nearly all transport projects in London and some beyond’
spending plan for approval to Crossrail Ltd, which is due to respond by the end of the year. In the meantime, design contracts have been awarded to Jacobs Engineering for the new Stockley flyover and a dive-under at the Acton freight yard. As Crossrail develops, its influence
touches nearly all transport projects in London and some beyond, including electrification of the Great Western Main Line and expansion of Reading station. Proposals are being worked up to add a North Kensington station to the Crossrail route, while recommendations for a new high speed rail line to the West Midlands have backed the creation of a major Crossrail interchange at Old Oak Common in north west London. The plans for Crossrail set out in 2007 are poised to evolve – exactly how much change we can expect will become clearer after the spending review announcement in October.
OCTOBER 2010 PAGE 29
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