Halcrow is playing a leading role in the delivery of one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world.
When Crossrail opens in 2017, it will increase London’s public transport network capacity by 10%, supporting regeneration across the capital, helping to secure London’s position as a world leading financial centre and cutting journey times across the city.
The aim of this £16 billion scheme is to provide a new east-west railway across London, providing a dedicated link between Heathrow Airport, the West End, the City, Canary Wharf and the Thames Gateway. New tunnels will be constructed from Paddington in the west, to Stratford and Canary Wharf in the east.
Crossrail will run 118km from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21km tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It will bring an additional 1.5 million people within 60 minutes commuting distance of London’s key business districts.
A team consisting of Halcrow, Bechtel and Systra has been appointed as a project delivery partner for the 21km central tunnel section, running from west London, through Paddington and branching off to the north and south of Liverpool Street Station. This tunnel will run through six new stations, and is set to become the largest construction project in Europe.
The team will also take on the complex job of integrating Crossrail with London’s existing transport systems.
Preparatory works are under way now, and construction is due to start in 2010.
Halcrow’s appointment as part of the project delivery team follows a succession of design contracts on the Crossrail project. We recently completed the multidisciplinary design of the south-east leg of the new network, which runs through Canary Wharf, the ExCel international exhibition and conference centre and out to regeneration areas in North Kent. This section includes a mixture of underground and surface running, with a minimum of three stations, as well as three portals and six intermediate shafts.
In the past we have also carried out the detailed design of running tunnels, platform tunnels and ventilation structures between Westbourne Bridge and Tottenham Court Road station and design of a new Crossrail station at Bond Street.