22.08.14
Paddington station excavation work reaches Crossrail tunnels
The Costain Skanska Joint Venture (JV) has excavated down to the new Crossrail tunnels at Paddington station, breaking into the top of the tunnels 16m below ground level.
The JV partners will now excavate the earth between the two tunnels creating a large open station platform level. Once this work is complete they will start building the new station platforms and laying the track bed.
Andy Mooney, Costain Skanska JV construction manager, said: “Reaching the tunnels marks an important phase in the construction of Paddington station.
“The excavation down 16m underneath Eastbourne Terrace will allow us, once we have removed all of the 2,640 individual tunnel segments, to start the construction of the platforms and track bed.”
Tunnelling machines Phyllis and Ada built the new train tunnels through Paddington at the beginning of 2013, ahead of completing their 6.8km journeys to Farringdon in autumn 2013.
Following the completion of the platform and track bed construction, system-wide contractor ATC (Alstom, TSO & Costain) will commence fit-out of the new tunnels with track and other rail infrastructure.
The new 250m long and 30m wide Paddington station is being constructed adjacent to the existing Paddington National Rail station under Eastbourne Terrace. It is also one of 10 new stations being built along the Crossrail route.
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