Crossrail: Mega Infrastructure Project taking Shape
The first five tunnel drives for the altogether eight bores for the giant Crossrail infrastructure project have begun in the heart of the Olympic City of London. The construction of the underground stations is also progressing. The following report provides an overview of the western tunnel section (C300) as well as the construction of two stations (C410).
The Crossrail project in London is a part of the roughly 118 km long regional line between Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west and Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. The line will serve a total of 37 stations along its route, however at the core of the scheme are the new rail tunnels between the Royal Oak Portal near Paddington in the west and Stratford and Woolwich in the east of London. The altogether approx. 21 km long tunnel route is divided up into the following five sections (Fig. 1):
X-drive from Royal Oak Portal (ROP) to Farringdon some 6,800 m in length (C300)
Y-drive from Limmo...