Crossrail workers are keeping up the pace on their own ‘marathon’ deep beneath the streets of east London.
They are currently digging out 26 miles of tunnels from Canning Town across the City and West End to Paddington where the line will come up to the surface.
A fleet of five giant tunnelling machines are churning out millions of tonnes of earth 100ft below the surface, with five-and-a-half miles already complete.
The twin tunnels form the central section of the £16 billion ‘super tube’ which starts running in 2018 with 24 trains an hour from east London direct to Heathrow.
Two tunnelling machines named Elizabeth and Victoria, which started burrowing westward from Canning Town at the beginning of the year, are set to reach the Canary Wharf station site later this month, before ‘resting’ and pressing on to the 100ft deep shaft at Stepney Green, one of Europe’s largest underground caverns, on the way to Whitechapel and Liverpool Street.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here