TBM Victoria - Crossrail Drive Y
London, UK (Limmo to Farringdon) · 2012-2015 (Based on the paper and general Crossrail tunnelling dates) · £14.8bn (Crossrail project total)
The judgement call
Account-gated at launchTBM reception arrangements for Drive Y involved driving into the eastern end of Farringdon Station, where platform enlargements had been constructed, then stripping and dismantling underground. This was not considered optimal due to time consumption and health/safety hazards of underground cutting and burning.
Key engineering challenges
Dealing with significant quantities of different excavated material. - Minimising environmental impact from transportation and disposal. - Minimising settlement effects. - Dealing with multiple TBM launches and receptions.
Project facts
- Client / owner
- Crossrail Ltd.
- Lead contractor
- —
- Lead designers
- CH2M, Atkins Ltd
- Project type
- new build
- Scale
- TBM type: Earth pressure balance; Drive length: 7.9 km; Total tunnelling time: 895 days; Tunnelling time excluding delays: 402 days; Average progress including delays: 5.5 rings/day; Average progress excluding delays: 12.3 rings/day; Maximum progress: 94.4 m/day (59 rings/day, 216 rings/week)
- Disciplines
- civil; structural; mechanical; electrical; systems; tunnelling; geotechnical
- Standards & frameworks
- ICE Proceedings, CDM Regulations (implied for UK projects of this scale)
Sources: King, M., Thomas, I., & Stenning, A. (2017). Crossrail project: machine-driven tunnels on the Elizabeth line, London. Civil Engineering, 170(5), 31-38. (https://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jcien.16.00028) - Crossrail Learning Legacy (https://learninglegacy.crossrail.co.uk/)