New pictures show giant plant tunnelling away beneath London
- Details
- Hits: 4860
If plant and machinery constitutes the ‘big boys’ toys’ of the construction industry, then among the most impressive of those are the huge tunnelling machines employed to construct major infrastructure projects.
They are rarely seen, but now Crossrail has released pictures of what it describes as the ‘London tunnelling marathon' underway beneath the capital.
Five tunnelling machines are now operational and platform tunnelling work is underway at several London stations as Crossrail moves into its peak tunnelling period. Over 7,000 people are now employed on Crossrail, with work going on beneath the streets of London 24 hours a day.
The new route from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east includes 26 miles (42km) of tunnels – equivalent to a marathon.
The five machines now in operation have been affectionately named Phyllis and Ada in west London, Elizabeth and Victoria in east London and Sophia in Plumstead, south-east London. Together they have created more than 5km, or 3 miles of tunnels already, with nearly 500 metres built in the single biggest week of tunnelling to-date.
In the western tunnels alone tunnelling machine Phyllis (pictured) has put over 1,500 tunnel rings in place between Royal Oak and Park Lane at the edge of Hyde Park.
Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail’s chief executive, said: "With 26 miles of new tunnels to be built for Crossrail we are delivering our own London marathon beneath the streets of the capital. This is a huge and complex task with work underway 24 hours a day below London’s streets, but our first few miles of tunnel are now completed. These new underground images show the scale of transformation taking place beneath London and the essential new transport links being created with every metre of new tunnel built.”
When Crossrail opens in 2018, it will increase London's rail-based transport network capacity by 10 per cent and dramatically cut journey times across the city.