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Crossrail Tunnels
Enter Final Stages
T
unnel machine Ellie has started her
900 metre journey from Limmo
Peninsula, near Canning Town,
towards Victoria Dock Portal in east
London.
Over the next three months the 1,000 tonne
machine will complete one of Crossrail’s short-
est but most complex tunnels, in close proxim-
ity to the Jubilee line, Docklands Light Railway,
River Thames and River Lea.
The drive will complete tunnelling on Cross-
rail’s southeast spur, which stretches from Step-
ney Green to Abbey Wood. Ellie’s sister tunnel-
ling machine, Jessica, completed the first of the
As Ellie begins her final journey, the ‘big
fat ladies’ that have been driving tens of
kilometres of tunnel deep under London will
soon begin singing as they draw the tunnelling
to a close.
They have earned the right to sing having
completed on the largest tunnelling projects
that have ever been done as part of a single
project. Final tunnel progress is on schedule.
However, once completed, there is still
extensive fitting out and construction works
to be done along the route and stations to be
completed.
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Contractors World UK & Ireland Vol 4 No 4