When Laing O’Rourke was awarded Crossrail contract C422 in Jul 2012 it was supposed to finish work, and the line open, in 2018.
However, it was always one of the most complex stations on the new line, and it has been far from the only source of delay to the new Elizabeth Line.
To the untrained eye, Tottenham Court Road has looked finished for years. But all the services and controls behind the scenes have been work in progress long after the due date.
However, the Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth line station has reached the T-12 landmark, which means that 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 primarily focus on the testing and commissioning of systems ahead of the Elizabeth line opening. The railway is currently expected to open in the first half of 2022.
Custom House was the first of the new Elizabeth line stations to be handed over to TfL last year and Farringdon station also reached its own T-12 landmark just before Christmas and is expected to be handed over to TfL next month.
Crossrail will move into the next major stage of the project, with the start of Trial Running and intensive testing later this year.
Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild said: “This is an incredibly important moment for the team at Tottenham Court Road station and for the Crossrail project as a whole and is another important step for us on the journey to opening the Elizabeth line.
“Tottenham Court Road is an iconic location and a part of London that everyone in the city will be incredibly familiar with. Everyone who has worked on this magnificent new station can be incredibly proud of the contribution they have made to the lives of Londoners and the look of the city. I hope our new station will continue to delight everyone using it for generations to come.”
Declan Mcgeeney, director of UK infrastructure at Laing O’Rourke, said: “This is a significant achievement by our construction team and I thank them for their commitment and hard work.
“The station has created some interesting engineering challenges to solve, including constructing the line’s only curved platform for the routeway to avoid the foundations of Centre Point. We’ve worked in close partnership with Crossrail and London Underground to create a state-of-the-art station and are proud to be part of the team delivering a world-class piece of infrastructure that will improve the journeys of millions of people for many years to come.”
When the Elizabeth line opens, Tottenham Court Road will be one of London’s busiest stations, offering an interchange between the Northern, Central and Elizabeth line services with thousands of passengers passing through every day.
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