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David Cameron hails London Crossrail as 'engineering triumph'
PM tells workers he is ‘dead proud to be your prime minister’ as final part of cross-capital tunnelling is completed
David Cameron (second left) with the London mayor, Boris Johnson (right), looking at ongoing Crossrail work at Farringdon, London. Photograph: Alastair Grant/PA
The final inches of Crossrail’s 26 miles of train tunnels were cut out of the London clay on Thursday, with David Cameron, the prime minister underground to herald a major breakthrough in the £14.8bn project.
The last of eight giant tunnel-boring machines completed its journey into Farringdon, central London, at the heart of a new rail line running from Berkshire to Essex that will carry an estimated 200 million passengers a year from 2018.
Cameron, in hi-vis clothing beside the machine dubbed Victoria, told Crossrail workers the project made him “dead proud to be your prime minister”.
Construction on Crossrail started at Canary Wharf in 2009, while the first of the tunnelling machines started drilling in May 2012, weaving their way between tube lines, sewers and foundations as far down as 36 metres (120ft) below London’s streets.
The eastbound divergence of the Shenfield-bound (left) and Canary Wharf-bound Crossrail tunnels under Stepney Green. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
Boris Johnson, the outgoing London mayor, said the tunnels were “a huge success for the whole of the UK economy” and used the occasion to urge support for Crossrail 2, a planned north-south London line.
The transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “When the first trains start running through these tunnels from 2018, Crossrail, together with the billions of pounds we are investing in the Thameslink programme, will transform travel across London and the south east. It will also play a vital role in driving forward our long-term economic plan by boosting business and creating thousands of new jobs.”
At their peak, the boring machines – mini-factories on wheels that dug out earth while laying tracks and lining the tunnel with concrete segments – created around 100 metres of new, 20ft-wide tunnel a week. The spoil was shipped to Essex to create a nature reserve for birds at Wallasea Island.
Transport for London took over the running of part of the future Crossrail line, from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, this week, with the line due to start full operation under the capital in 2018. It will add around 10% more capacity to the crowded network, which planners hope will ease congestion a little as London’s population grows to a forecast 10 million around 2030.
David Cameron hails London Crossrail as 'engineering triumph' | UK news | The Guardian
PM tells workers he is ‘dead proud to be your prime minister’ as final part of cross-capital tunnelling is completed
David Cameron (second left) with the London mayor, Boris Johnson (right), looking at ongoing Crossrail work at Farringdon, London. Photograph: Alastair Grant/PA
The final inches of Crossrail’s 26 miles of train tunnels were cut out of the London clay on Thursday, with David Cameron, the prime minister underground to herald a major breakthrough in the £14.8bn project.
The last of eight giant tunnel-boring machines completed its journey into Farringdon, central London, at the heart of a new rail line running from Berkshire to Essex that will carry an estimated 200 million passengers a year from 2018.
Cameron, in hi-vis clothing beside the machine dubbed Victoria, told Crossrail workers the project made him “dead proud to be your prime minister”.
Construction on Crossrail started at Canary Wharf in 2009, while the first of the tunnelling machines started drilling in May 2012, weaving their way between tube lines, sewers and foundations as far down as 36 metres (120ft) below London’s streets.
The eastbound divergence of the Shenfield-bound (left) and Canary Wharf-bound Crossrail tunnels under Stepney Green. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
Boris Johnson, the outgoing London mayor, said the tunnels were “a huge success for the whole of the UK economy” and used the occasion to urge support for Crossrail 2, a planned north-south London line.
The transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “When the first trains start running through these tunnels from 2018, Crossrail, together with the billions of pounds we are investing in the Thameslink programme, will transform travel across London and the south east. It will also play a vital role in driving forward our long-term economic plan by boosting business and creating thousands of new jobs.”
At their peak, the boring machines – mini-factories on wheels that dug out earth while laying tracks and lining the tunnel with concrete segments – created around 100 metres of new, 20ft-wide tunnel a week. The spoil was shipped to Essex to create a nature reserve for birds at Wallasea Island.
Transport for London took over the running of part of the future Crossrail line, from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, this week, with the line due to start full operation under the capital in 2018. It will add around 10% more capacity to the crowded network, which planners hope will ease congestion a little as London’s population grows to a forecast 10 million around 2030.
David Cameron hails London Crossrail as 'engineering triumph' | UK news | The Guardian
