Could We Bore A Double-Track Railway With A Tunnel Boring Machine?
There is one inevitability about construction projects.
As buildings get taller, foundations get deeper, structures get heavier, machines like cranes get bigger and more able to lift heavy loads.
I remember how in the 1970s, a project manager was eulogising about how the latest floating cranes that could lift 4,000 tonnes wee revolutionising the construction of oil platforms in the North Sea.
Crossrail may be a railway under London, where people think the tunnels are massive.
This page on the Crossrail web site describes the tunnels.
A network of new rail tunnels have been built by eight giant tunnel boring machines, to carry Crossrail’s trains eastbound and westbound. Each tunnel is 21 kilometres/13 miles long, 6.2 metres in diameter and up to 40 metres below ground.
But they are not the largest tunnels under London.
The Thames Tunnel, built by the Brunels, opened in 1843.
- It is eleven metres wide.
- It is six metres high.
- It carries the double track railway of the East London Line, which runs Class 378 trains, which are very much a typical British loading gauge.
There is also the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which is being dug to be a 7.2 wide circular tunnel.
And then there’s Bertha!
This description is from Wikipedia.
Bertha was a 57.5-foot-diameter (17.5 m) tunnel boring machine built specifically for the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel project in Seattle.[1] It was made by Hitachi Zosen Sakai Works in Osaka, Japan, and the machine’s assembly was completed in Seattle in June 2013. Tunnel boring began on July 30, 2013, with the machine originally scheduled to complete the tunnel in December 2015.
It looks like London’s tunnels should be considered small.
Cross section areas of various tunnels are.
- Thames Tuideway Tunnel – 40.7 square metres.
- Thames Tunnel – 66 square metres
- Seattle Tunnel – 240 square metres.
- 8 metre circular tunnel – 50.3 square metres
- 10 metre circular tunnel – 78.6 square metres
- 12 metre circular tunnel – 113 square metres
The Seattle Tunnel shows what is possible today.
I am led to the obvious conclusion.
It would be possible to build a tunnel to take a full-size double-track UK railway using a tunnel boring machine.
Whether you would want to is another matter, as two single tunnels may be more affordable and better operationally.
Farringdon Station – 3rd September 2019
These pictures show the Barbican station end of the Crossrail entrance at Farringdon station.
I showed this entrance in Farringdon Station – 7th July 2018.
Is This A Massive Endorsement For The City Of London?
This Google Map is dominated by the new Goldman Sachs building in the City of London.
Make what you want of the building and its significance for the City.
But is it an endorsement of a strong future or a monument to a glorious past?
Location, Location, Location
One property developer once said, these were the three most important things about a property.
This Google Map shows the location with respect to Farringdon station.
The station, which is at the top of map, will be the best connected in Central London as it will be the crossing of Crossrail and Thameslin. That probably won’t be important to some of the employees of Goldman Sachs, but the building apparently has favoured bicycle spaces over car parking.
Note just to the South of Farringdon station, two of the large buildings of Smithfield Market. These two are very much under-used and plans exist to convert part of them into the new Museum of London.
But a lot of the area between Goldman Sachs and Farringdon is under-developed and will the Goldman Sachs decision, lead to more development of offices, hotels and residences in this part of London at the West of the actual City?
Terminal Six At Heathrow And Terminal Three At Gatwick
I often joke, that this area, will become extra terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, with an easy link to the trains to Scotland and the Continent just a short taxi ride, bicycle ride or one stop on the Underground up the road at Kings Cross and St. Pancras.
A Walk From Smithfield To The Goldman Sachs Building
These are some pictures I took on the way.
The New Museum Of London Site
Holborn Viaduct
The Goldman Sachs Building
I’m sure that if I can walk to and from Farringdon station at seventy-two, then a lor of people working in the building will use the railway to get to and from work.
Conclusion
Have Goldman Sachs decided to build their new offices at the Crossroads of the World?
Acton Main Line Station – 2nd September 2019
These pictures show Acton Main Line station.
These improvements are promised in Wikipedia.
- New station building with a larger ticket hall with level access from Horn Lane
- Step-free access between street level and all platforms via a new footbridge with stairs and two lifts
- Platforms 2–4 extended to enable 10-car trains to stop
- Improved passenger facilities including a new canopy on platform 4, along with information and security systems.
There is still work to do.
Crossrail Rushes To Make Bond Street Ready For Testing
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
Mark Wild, who is Crossrail’s Chief Executive, is quoted as telling the London Assembly.
Our current focus is predominantly on key areas of risk such as ensuring that Bond Street station is at the required stage of completion to allow us to commence trial running early in 2020..
The more I read about this project, the more I believe, that the projects lateness is down to two things.
- Some very optimistic project management by contractors to get some of the enormous contracts on offer.
- A lack of resources in vital areas like some trades and the testing of trains.
But then what do I know about Project Management and computer software?
Could Bond Street also be the only really late station, as it is on a very cramped site in the centre of some of the most expensive real estate on the planet?
The 3D visualisation shows the area around the station.
Note .
- The new Western entrance to Bond Street Crossrail station, which is the cleared site with the russet-coloured building behind.
- The new Eastern entrance, which is just to the West of Hanover Square.
- Bond Street running down from Next on Oxford Street to Fenwicks.
Surface access is not good to say the least.
The same access problem probably applies at Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations, but at these five stations, there were buildings that could be demolished to give access for construction.
It should also be notes, that some of these stations have only a few local residents.
I’ll take a quick look at these five stations.
Paddington
This Google Map shows Paddington station.
Note the Crossrail station, which has been squeezed into the old cab rank, alongside the station.
Tottenham Court Road
This Google Map shows Tottenham Court Road station.
Note the amount of cleared space around the station,
Farringdon
This Google Map shows Farringdon station.
The Crossrail station is to the West of the current station. It must have helped contractors, that the station had been redeveloped a couple of times for the construction and update of Thameslink.
Moorgate
This Google Map shows Moorgate station.
Moor House, which is the large office block behind Moorgate station, was built in 2004 and was designed to accept Crossrail in the basement.
Finsbury Circus, which is the green space in the East was used as a construction site.
Liverpool Street
This Google Map shows Liverpool Street station.
The main entrance to the Crossrail station will be in front of the Broadgate office complex, which is to the West of the station.
This section of Broadgate is also being redeveloped, which probably helps and hinders in equal measure.
Conclusion
I think lessons will be learned that can be applied to other cross-city rail projects.
- Future-planning as with Moor House should be increasingly used.
- Should stations be built in conjunction with other developments?
- Are stations in areas of high real-estate values a good idea?
- Could more innovative ways be used to bring in construction materials?
Will future projects be better?
Seven Kings Station – 2nd July 2019
Seven Kings station appears to be substantially complete, as these pictures show..
A new bridge with lifts has been added to supplement the current stairs, which have been refurbished.
Brentwood Station – 2nd July 2019
I took these pictures of Brentwood station today.
For comparison, this second set of pictures were taken in October 2014 and I posted them in Before Crossrail – Brentwood Station.
Note the excellent toilets.
There is still work to do to finish the station.
The biggest problem appears to be squeezing the lifts into the structure.
There is this article on Essex Live, which is entitled Brentwood Station Lift Fiasco Is Penalising Buggy-Users And Disable People.
This is said in the article.
Network Rail has previously said that the decision to not install a lift on platform four was “not taken lightly.”
But, the discovery of power cables and a disused culvert underneath where the lift shaft would go led to Network Rail’s conclusion that a lift could not be installed there.
I’m afraid that station modifications are liberally sprinkled with stories like this.
Harold Wood Station – 2nd July 2019
Harold Wood station appears to be progressing towards completion.
These pictures were taken today.
For comparison, this second set of pictures were taken in October 2014 and I posted then in Before Crossrail – Harold Wood .
In the related post, I said this.
The station has toilets but a bad bridge and no lifts.
It won’t take much to get it ready for Crossrail.
It appears that the following work has been done.
- A temporary (?) step-free entrance has been built.
- A new bridge has been put in place.
- The platforms have been extended.
But the lift installation need finishing and the old station building needs refurbishing.
The station has the air of an overrunning refurbishing project or one that has run out of money.
Gidea Park Station – 2nd July 2019
Gidea Park station is now almost ready to become step-free.
There is still a bit of testing and decorating to finish off and hopefully everything in the station will be fully operational in a few weeks.
Compare the pictures, with these of the bridge, that I took in October 2014.
The pictures come from Before Crossrail – Gidea Park, where I said this.
One of the station staff told me, that the bridge had obvious corrosion problems and it was being replaced with one with lifts.
It appears that the contractors have taken the old footbridge, refurbished it with all the care that the Scots use on the Forth Railway Bridge and added a pair of new lift towers to give step-free access to the platforms.
This method probably took longer than replacing the whole structure with a new bridge, but I suspect that the contractors were able to keep the station open at all times.
I have to add a tail-piece.
This picture was taken in the waiting room.
But then the station had a florist when I visited in 2014. Perhaps, it still does!
Ilford Station – 2nd July 2019
Work is underway at Ilford station to rebuild the main station entrance and create a modern glass-fronted station.
This page on the Crossrail web site, which is entitled Ilford Station, lists these features.
- A new spacious, modern and bright station building on Cranbrook Road
- A new waiting room and benches on platforms
- Improved customer information, lighting and wayfinding signage
- Newly painted walls and tiled floor and ceiling
- Two new ticket machines, four new ticket gates and a wide aisle gate
- A new waiting room and benches on platforms.
This image is also shown.
I took these pictures of the station today.
This Google Map shows the station.
Note the disused Platform 5 in the pictures and at the Northern side of the station in the map, for which I can’t find any future plans.
- Perhaps it could be made into an operationally-useful bay platform? After all, it appears to be full length.
- Could it be filled in to create a wide platform with a waiting room and a coffee kiosk?
- Could it be used for bicycle parking?
I would wait until Crossrail is fully-open and see what is most needed.
Note too, the last picture with the footbridge over the station to the York Road entrance on the right. This picture shows the York Road entrance.
It was a shrewd move to build this second entrance, as it can function as the station entrance, whilst the main entrance on Cranbrook Road is rebuilt.
There would also appear to be plans to put a third entrance on the Southern side of the footbridge, which connects to Ilford Hill.
In my view, a station can never have too many entrances.
Conclusion
Will a new station attract more passengers to use Crossrail?
The Anonymous Widower 