Construction of new Crossrail stations hits halfway mark

The construction of Crossrail’s new stations in central London and Docklands is now half complete, with almost three miles of platform and station tunnels created beneath the streets of the capital.

New stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House and Woolwich are being built. From 2018, the stations in central London will be served by 24 trains an hour in each direction at peak times. 

Crossrail will transform public transport in London, reducing journey times, increasing rail capacity by 10 per cent and bringing an extra 1.5 million people to within 45 minutes of central London.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive said: “Most people have no idea that more than 30 metres below their feet a warren of new station tunnels is being excavated across central London. These striking images offer a glimpse of Crossrail’s new stations that from 2018 will serve tens of thousands of passengers every day.”

Five of Crossrail’s central London stations are being created using a well established technique known as ‘Sprayed Concrete Lining’ to create new station tunnels – Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel. The technique involves spraying a quick setting form of concrete onto freshly excavated ground to seal the new tunnels.

Three further stations – Paddington, Canary Wharf and Woolwich – are ‘box’ stations. At these sites, the entire outline of the station is excavated and then created with concrete. The station is then constructed within the ‘box’. 

Once the underground spaces are complete, the process will begin of fitting them out with platforms, escalators and the systems required to turn them into fully functioning stations. Canary Wharf, where the process of fit-out has already begun, is the most advanced of Crossrail’s new stations.

Custom House station is being constructed at ground level. Large sections of the station are being built in the East Midlands and then transported more than 130 miles to east London and assembled on site, securing jobs at a manufacturing facility in Steetley.