Less than five years after works began on Crossrail, Europe’s largest infrastructure project today reached the halfway point of its construction. Atkins is involved in seven of the ten new major stations, and the western twin bored tunnels in a joint venture with Arup.
Prime Minister David Cameron, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Crossrail Minister Stephen Hammond marked the occasion by visiting the £14.8bn project, going 25m below ground to view progress at Crossrail’s Tottenham Court Road site. The station will be a key interchange with London Underground when trains run through central London from 2018.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Big infrastructure projects like Crossrail are vital for the economy of London and the rest of Britain. They are the foundation-stone on which business can grow, compete and support jobs, a massive 55,000 jobs in the construction phase of this project alone.”
London’s population is set to grow from 8.4 million today to around 10 million by 2030. Government, the Mayor of London and Transport for London are investing in Crossrail and other transport infrastructure to support access to jobs, education, housing and to boost economic growth.
Rob McCrae, framework director on Crossrail for Atkins said “As part of the Crossrail project team, Atkins is immensely proud of the significant progress made to date. Reaching this milestone is testament to all the hard work above and beneath the ground, as we deliver Europe’s largest infrastructure project.”
During 2014, Crossrail’s major civil engineering and tunnelling works will conclude and the focus will shift towards station construction, fit-out and implementing railway systems within the tunnels and stations. The train operator will then test and refine the systems before trains run from 2018.