Crossrail contractors have excavated down to the new Crossrail tunnels at London Paddington station, it has been announced.
Costain Skanska Joint Venture, contractors for the project, have broken into the top of the tunnels 16 metres below ground level, as part of the construction of the new station.
The earth between the two tunnels will be excavated creating a large open station platform level. Once the excavation is complete Costain Skanska will start building 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 16 metres 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.”
The new train tunnels through Paddington were built by tunneling machines, Phyllis and Ada, 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 at Paddington, system-wide contractor Altsom, TSO & Costain will commence fit-out of the new tunnels with track and other rail infrastructure.
