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Sewage tunnels
Tunnelling was underway on the Lee Tunnel – the first and an important part of the Tideway scheme to improve the water quality of the River Thames. This comprises over 5km of 7m diameter tunnels and depths of up to 80m. Tunnelling was due to complete in early 2014.
Cable tunnels
Works continue on the construction of 33km of cable tunnels in London with over 20km of the tunnelling completed.
Railway Tunnels
Work on the capacity upgrade of existing London Underground stations at Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Bond Street was underway. TBM tunnelling on major sections of Crossrail was underway with all TBMs now on site. The first of the 6km running tunnels between Royal Oak portal to the west of central London and Farringdon in the heart of London was completed in late 2013. Conventional tunnelling for all stations on Crossrail between Paddington and Stepney Green was fully underway. Some very large and complex sprayed concrete e lining works (spans up to 19m) were being undertaken in Central London.
The Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA), part of the Crossrail legacy, continued to expand its facilities and included a visit from ITA.
Future work
Currently progressing to tender stage included the Thames Tideway Tunnel Scheme comprising 25km of 6.5-7.2 diameter tunnel at depth up to 75m directly beneath the River Thames.
- A major sewer tunnel in Glasgow and other smaller projects in North West England.
- An extension of the Northern Line of London Underground to Batterse comprising 2 new stations and 3km of running tunnel.
- London Underground continued their ambitious station capacity upgrade programme and a contract was awarded for the upgrade to Bank Station.
- London underground also have plans for further station upgrades at 5-10 central London stations.
The proposed High Speed Two rail link to Birmingham and Northern England continued to receive Government support to proceed. Additional lengths of line to be in tunnel were agreed for environmental reasons.
Temporary cradle on which running tunnel TBM would be jacked through Stepney Green cavern on the Crossrail project