Tunnelling breakthrough for Crossrail

8 Jun 2015 02:13 PM

Crossrail's 26-mile tunnelling marathon came to an end with the breakthrough of tunnel boring machines at Farringdon last week.

Now the focus will switch to fitting everything out.

This will include new stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich and Abbey Wood.

Construction is also advancing on the ten new Crossrail stations and on works above ground west of Paddington and east of Stratford.

Surface works in outer London, Berkshire and Essex are one third complete and, as of last month, we have started operating rail services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in Essex - the northeast tip of the project.

London's Transport Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy CBE said: 'The end of tunnelling marks an impressive milestone in construction. When Crossrail fully opens it will provide much needed new transport links and capacity, helping to support London's continued economic growth and meet the demands of our rapidly growing population. It is vital that we maintain such investment to meet the challenges of the future.'

When complete, the 100km route will run from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, passing beneath the heart of central London.

The first services through central London will start in late 2018.

Crossrail in numbers:

• £14.8bn: will be spent on the new railway
• 62 million: working hours spent on the project so far
• 10,000: people currently working on the railway
• 84,300: jobs supported last year across the UK through our investment programme and Crossrail
• 200 million: annual passengers expected to use the service after it opens in 2018
• £42bn: the railway's estimated benefi t to the UK economy