Two years on from the start of Crossrail’s construction, Canary Wharf Station, one of the largest along the Crossrail route, is the first to near structural completion below ground.
Rail Minister Theresa Villiers visited the Canary Wharf site yesterday to see the huge progress that has been made and witness the last of the soil being removed from the platform level, where trains will run from 2018.
The station, which has been built ‘top down,’ now extends 28 metres below the waters of North Dock in Canary Wharf, with the ticket hall and platform levels excavated.
The station box needs to be complete for the two tunnel boring machines to break-through from the east of Canary Wharf in summer 2012.
Construction of Crossrail began in May 2009 at the Canary Wharf site. Two years of construction has seen over 1,000 piles installed, nearly 100 million litres of water removed, 300,000 tonnes of material excavated and almost 375,000 tonnes of concrete poured.
Canary Wharf station is approximately the same size as One Canada Square, Britain’s largest office building, laid on its side.
Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said:
“This anniversary represents a major milestone in the building of one of the most exciting transport projects in London today. Crossrail will create economically vital transport infrastructure set to transform the journeys of thousands of passengers.
“Since construction started on Crossrail two years ago, tremendous progress has been made – not only at Canary Wharf, where a station can now be seen to be taking shape – but right across the Crossrail route.
“Work is underway across all central London station sites – from Paddington to Whitechapel. Tunnelling preparations are expected to begin in late 2011 with full tunnelling commencing in Spring 2012.
“I look forward to seeing how far the project has advanced in another two years time.”
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said:
“The army of engineers working on this station have made phenomenal progress and a huge subterranean chamber has been created deep under Canary Wharf that will throng with Londoners when Crossrail is up and running.
“This project is crucial to the continued economic success of our city, which is why I fought so hard to guarantee its funding and with tunnelling set to begin early next year the construction of Crossrail is rapidly accelerating.”
When it opens in 2018, Crossrail will deliver new train services and reduced journey times across London and the South East. With up to 24 trains per hour between Paddington and Whitechapel during peak times, Crossrail will carry over 200 million passengers each year.
Canary Wharf will be served by 12 trains per hour. Each Crossrail train will be 200 metres long with the capacity to carry 1,500 passengers.
Journey times from Canary Wharf will be: Liverpool Street (6 minutes), Bond Street (13 minutes), Ealing Broadway (24 minutes), Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 (39 minutes) and Abbey Wood (11 minutes).
Elsewhere along the Crossrail route, work is now underway across all central London station sites and intensive construction activity will take place during 2011 and beyond. The first of the main construction contracts for the central London stations will be awarded in summer 2011.
Construction of the first six tunnel boring machines (TBM) will shortly get underway in Germany with the first TBM due to arrive in London in early 2012. The tunnel boring machines will build the new Crossrail tunnels beneath central London and Docklands with tunnelling commencing in spring 2012.
Construction of the tunnel portal at Royal Oak in west London is advancing. A further four tunnel portals will be constructed as part of Crossrail at Pudding Mill Lane, North Woolwich, Victoria Dock and Plumstead.
Such is the scale of Crossrail that up to 14,000 people will be employed at the peak of construction between 2013 and 2015. The UK Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in east London will be fully open by September 2011 and will offer training to at least 3,500 people.
