Gallery: Step Inside London's Cavernous New Train Tunnels

  • Image may contain Clothing Apparel Human Person Helmet and Hardhat
    Crossrail
    01

    Charlie Fawell

    These tunnels, officially completed this month, are for Crossrail, the under-construction, $23 billion railway that will run through east-west through the metropolitan area.
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    Crossrail
    02

    Frank Jenkins

    "Huge tunnel-boring machines have been chewing up London's earth around the clock, moving through ground that's honeycombed with networks of sewer lines, water and gas mains, foundations of buildings, and even some London Underground tunnels dating to the 1860s," says one project leader.
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    Crossrail
    03

    John Zammit

    These machines, each weighing 1,100 tons and bearing names like Elizabeth, Victoria, Phyllis, and Ada, gouged out 20-foot diameter holes under the city.
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    Crossrail
    04

    Robbie Whitfield

    All told, the machines dug out 3.3 million tons of earth, which is being used to create a wetland nature reserve at Wallasea Island in Essex.
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    Crossrail
    05

    Robby Whitfield

    Over 10,000 people are currently working on the project.
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    Crossrail
    06

    161407

    Now that the tunnels are complete, they will be fitted with the necessary tracks and electronics. Work on the new stations continues, and the first Crossrail trains are expected to begin running in 2018.
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