Crossrail From the Air

We’ve looked at various elements of London’s transport infrastructure from the air before – now it’s Crossrail’s turn.

With the exception of the Connaught Tunnel approach, the photos below broadly divide into tunnelling portals and stations. The photos highlight the variety of sites Crosssrail features – some long, some compact.

The station shots, particularly those focused on the stations in the central section, also highlight how tight space is within the Capital. This is something we’ve covered before, notably when we last looked at Tottenham Court Road in detail, but the images of Bond Street help show just how complex the logistics of building new infrastructure in an old city can be.

The Portals

The Connaught Tunnel is not a Portal site, but the photo below was too good not to include here, as it shows nicely the path of the DLR over the tunnel approach.

With regards to the portals themselves, Royal Oak is probably the site we have spent the most time at lately, mainly due to the presence of the first Crossrail Tunnel Boring Machines.

At the other end of London Pudding Mill Lane portal, pictured below, sits next to the new Olympic Park.

Meanwhile the Plumstead and North Woolwich sites site astride the Thames. It is between these two sites that Crossrail’s own Thames Tunnel will be driven.

The Stations

Sitting outside the central section, Canary Wharf is an interesting example of a “cut and cover” station where some of the material “cut” is water.

Heading east, Whitechapel features perhaps the longest work site to be found within the Capital itself. As with the Bond Street and Liverpool Street photos that follow, Whitechapel shows just how tight the working spaces are within the city.

Moving westwards, Finsbury Circus represents perhaps the most incongruous of the Crossrail sites. This will shortly become a major work site for access to the plaform tunnels at Liverpool Street.

Liverpool Street itself can be seen below, with work on the Western Ticket Hall particularly prominent.

Further west again, the photo below gives a nice view of the changes taking place at Farringdon.

In the heart of the city, the sites are far more cramped. The photos below show Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street, both of which have multiple work sites.

Finally Paddington, like Farringdon, is a station undergoing much change.