Royal Oak Crossrail tunnel portal finished early

Date: 27/9/2011

The first tunnel portal of five along the Crossrail route has been completed ahead of the planned schedule.

Construction of the portal at Royal Oak has finished - after starting in January 2010 - and now the site is being prepared for next year's tunnelling.

In spring 2012, the first tunnel boring machine will be launched from Royal Oak.

Commenting on the news, Central Section Delivery Director at Crossrail Ailie MacAdam said the project's "first tunnelling milestone" had been reached.

Royal Oak's tunnel portal is bordered by the Network Rail and Hammersmith & City Lines to the south and the A40 Westway in the north.

During the work, 25,000 cubic metres of ground was excavated.

Crossrail recently announced that it had placed a £400 million contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union to find expressions of interest in a fit-out of the rail tunnels.

The organisation revealed that 21 km of twin-bore tunnels are set to be completed by late 2014.

Posted by Mary Treen