The final breakthrough
At approximately 8.3 km in length, Limmo Peninsula to Farringdon was the longest of the five Crossrail tunnel drives. Two giant tunnelling machines, Elizabeth and Victoria, were launched in 2012 to drive westbound to Farringdon via Canary Wharf, Stepney Green shaft, Whitechapel and Liverpool Street at depths of up to 40 metres deep.
Crossrail’s eastern tunnelling machines, named Elizabeth and Victoria, were launched from the Limmo Peninsula site near Canning Town towards in late 2012 to create 8.3km (5.16 miles) of tunnels from east London to Farringdon – Crossrail’s longest tunnel section.
It took just over three years to construct the tunnels, with Elizabeth and Victoria successfully breaking through into Farringdon station in May 2015.
Elizabeth arrived at Farringdon on 9 May 2015 and sister machine Victoria successfully broke into Farringdon Crossrail station on 23 May at 5.30am. Victoria then constructed the remaining section of Crossrail tunnel as she progressed into Farringdon station, completing the job and linking all Crossrail tunnels.
Crossrail tunnelling ended on 26 May 2015 when TBM Victoria completed her journey.
18 spectacular tunnelling breakthroughs
Crossrail’s tunnelling machines had a total of 18 breakthroughs when constructing the eastern tunnels (Docklands to Farringdon) and Thames Tunnel (Plumstead to North Woolwich) as follows:
Sophia at Woolwich – 15 May 2013 | Elizabeth at Canary Wharf – 21 May 2013 |
Victoria at Canary Wharf – 11 June 2013 | Mary at Woolwich – 4 September 2013 |
Elizabeth at Stepney Green – 6 November 2013 | Elizabeth at Whitechapel – 20 January 2014 |
Sophia at North Woolwich – 29 January 2014 | Victoria at Stepney Green – 30 January 2014 |
Jessica at Stepney Green – 3 February 2014 | Victoria at Whitechapel – 4 April 2014 |
Mary at North Woolwich – 13 May 2014 | Ellie at Stepney Green – 9 June 2014 |
Jessica at Victoria Dock Portal – 9 August 2014 | Ellie at Victoria Dock Portal – 18 October 2014 |
Elizabeth at Liverpool Street – 29 January 2015 | Victoria at Liverpool Street – 10 March 2015 |
Elizabeth at Farringdon – 9 May 2015 | Victoria at Farringdon – 23 May 2015 |