Tunnelling into London’s core

The first TBM, reportedly worth £10m, is currently undergoing factory testing and will shortly be dismantled and shipped to London where it will be re-assembled at Westbourne Park ahead of tunnelling commencing in March.

To construct the 21km of twin-bore tunnel required for Crossrail, eight 1000 tonne tunnel boring machines (TBM) will undertake 10 individual tunnel drives to construct the 6.2m diameter tunnels.

At an incredible 140 metres long, each TBM would just fit just inside the boundaries of a cricket oval.

The 118km  Crossrail route will pass through 37 stations, with the TBMs to bore the tunnelled section of the  rail line that will link Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west with Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

The TBMs will run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week stopping only for scheduled maintenance.

Following the launch of the first TBM in March 2012, a second TBM will be launched from Royal Oak a few weeks later. The remaining TBMs will be launched from Limmo Peninsula in the Royal Docks heading towards Farringdon in late 2012; from Pudding Mill Lane and Plumstead in 2013; and from Limmo Peninsula to Victoria Dock in 2014

The eight Crossrail TBMs are being manufactured by Herrenknecht AG, Germany.

When Crossrail opens in 2018 it will increase London's rail-based transport network capacity by 10%.

The project is being delivered by Crossrail Limited (CRL). CRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. Crossrail is jointly sponsored by the Department for Transport and Transport for London.