Crossrail's TBMs Victoria & Elizabeth lowered into the ground.
It required perfect weather conditions, a monster crane and nerves of steel, but Elizabeth, the third tunnel boring machine (TBM) to join the Crossrail project, has been successfully lowered into position at Limmo Peninsula, next to Canning Town station. The 550-tonne earth pressure balance machine from Herrenknecht is now at the base of a 40m shaft and will start tunnelling under the River Lea sometime around New Year, all being well. A sister machine, Victoria, will soon be lowered into position beside her, to start boring the adjacent tunnel in
early 2013.
The two machines will be boring the longest tunnel section on the Crossrail project, the 8.3km stretch between Canning Town and Farringdon undertaken by joint venture Dragados Sisk. The first major milestone in the journey will be Canary Wharf Station, where preparations are already under way to receive the TBMs. Workers have started breaking out the hard concrete at the tunnel eyes to enable the machines to enter the station in the spring and summer of 2013. Read more in The Construction Index magazine pages 26 & 27 bit.ly/RRtVGj
Crossrail on You Tube. bit.ly/SdRBV1
Video uploaded on 20/11/2012 10:35pm.
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