Balfour Beatty is celebrating the successful completion of the tunnelling works on the Crossrail scheme. The company worked in partnership with Morgan Sindall, Vinci Construction and BeMo Tunnelling.
The project was completed on June 5 and Mayor of London Boris Johnson was there to mark the occasion. Prime Minister David Cameron and Transport Secretary Patrick Mcloughlin also attended.
Boris Johnson described the completion of the tunnelling for the £14.8 billion Crossrail scheme as an historic day and stated that it represented “a huge success for the whole of the UK economy.”
David Cameron described the achievement as an “incredible feat of engineering”. The Prime Minister added that the crossrail scheme would “improve the lives of working people in London and beyond.”
Eight boring machines were used during the construction; they each weighed a thousand tonnes and together they were an essential part of the construction of the 26 miles of tunnels that will make the Crossrail link possible.
The final part of the construction work began on 23 May when a tunnel was created at Farringdon. The Balfour Beatty partnership finalised the tunnelling project with the work carried out at Liverpool Street and Whitechapel stations.
Fatima Alghali, a Balfour Beatty Commercial apprentice, was at the event to help celebrate the completion of the project. She commented:
“It has been an amazing opportunity and such a great experience to be involved in a high profile project that will make such a positive impact.”
The Crossrail link stretches from Reading to Shenfield; it is scheduled to open in 2018 and services will start in 2019.
