The first giant TBM, Phyllis, for London’s Crossrail project has broken ground at Royal Oak en route to Farringdon to construct the first section of tunnel. “Tunnelling for Crossrail has now commenced. Phyllis is now beginning to slowly disappear below ground and will steadily ramp up to the planned average tunnelling rate of around 100m a week.”
Following the official unveiling of 1,000t Phyllis, Crossrail’s first TBM travelled 400m to Royal Oak Portal including under Hampden Street footbridge which was jacked up to allow the 7.1m diameter machine to pass beneath.
The arrival of the TBM at the portal in mid-March allowed for remaining major works to get underway to support tunnelling.
A major piece of work has been the construction of the launch structure which allows the TBM to propel itself forward. A steel seal has been fitted around the portal entrance to support the ground during the early stages of tunnelling.
Work has also been underway to install the major conveyor system behind the TBM to remove more than one million tonnes of excavated material from the cutter head to the portal entrance. A total of 24km of conveyer belt will be used to construct the western tunnels.
Rail sidings have been constructed to allow freight trains to access Westbourne Park to transport the excavated material to Northfleet from where it will be shipped to Wallasea Island to create a nature reserve.
A narrow gauge railway has been also laid to provide for small locomotives to transport materials and supplies into and out of the tunnel.
Work has also been continuing at the Old Oak Common concrete segment plant. Over 8,000 segments have now been produced and stockpiled for the western tunnels.
A further TBM, Ada, will subsequently be launched from Royal Oak. Once the first machine has progressed sufficiently, the second machine will be brought down to the portal headwall.
When the second TBM has reached Paddington, both machines will then progress forward through the Paddington station box to Bond Street and then onwards to Farringdon. The tunnels between Royal Oak and Farringdon will be completed in late 2013.
Eight TBMs will be used to construct 21km of Crossrail’s twin bore tunnels running between Royal Oak in west London and Pudding Mill Lane and Plumstead in east London.
The total funding envelope available to deliver Crossrail is £14.8bn.
The Crossrail route will pass through 37 stations and run 118km from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21km tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. When Crossrail opens it will increase London’s rail-based transport network capacity by 10 per cent, supporting regeneration across the capital, helping to secure London’s position as a world leading financial centre, and cutting journey times across the city. Crossrail services are due to commence through central London in 2018.
Crossrail is being delivered by Crossrail Limited (CRL). CRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. Crossrail is jointly sponsored by the Department for Transport and Transport for London.
