The BAM, Ferrovial and Kier joint venture (BFK JV) has completed the Farringdon Elizabeth line station – the first of the central London stations to reach the T-12 landmark. This means the station is substantially complete and it is now considered to be 12 weeks away from being ready for handover to Transport for London (TfL), who will operate the Elizabeth line.
Work at the station will now focus on testing and commissioning systems ahead of the line opening.
Reaching this milestone allows the contractor to start demobilising from the site and enables Crossrail, the client organisation, to start the process of handing the station over to TfL. Custom House, in east London, was the first of the new Elizabeth line stations to be handed over to TfL earlier this year.
A reduced BFK JV team will remain at Farringdon until next year to continue to principal contractor duties, which include maintenance of the station assets and systems.
Paddington is expected to be the next station where construction activity will complete and will then be followed by a number of the central London station sites over the coming months, Crossrail said.
Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild said: “This is an incredibly important landmark for both the team at Farringdon station and for the Crossrail project as a whole. We have now reached the end of the construction phase at the first of our central London stations and the start of the testing and safety assurance journey which will enable us to hand over the station to Transport for London and open the Elizabeth line to passengers.”
BFK JV project director Jose Antonio Pariente said: “Being the first of the central London Elizabeth line stations to attain this status is a source of immense pride for the BFK team. In addition, having worked on Europe’s largest infrastructure scheme, with all the complexity involved and seeing the positive changes to the industry, as a result of the extraordinary work completed by the integrated delivery team, has been key for all concerned.”
When the Elizabeth line opens, Farringdon station will be one of the busiest in the UK, connecting with Thameslink and the London Underground to provide links with outer London, the home counties, the City, Canary Wharf and three of London’s six airports.
Construction of Crossrail started in 2009. The entire project was meant to have been finished, with trains running, nine years later in 2018. The various delays have been well documented. The central section is now not expected to open before 2022 – four years late.
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