First trainload of excavated material from Crossrail’s tunnels leaves London for Kent
By Krista Eleftheriou
The first trainload of excavated material from Crossrail’s tunnels has left west London and been delivered to Northfleet in Kent.
The first 13 wagon train left Crossrail’s Westbourne Park site for Northfleet after it was loaded with 492 tonnes of earth. A further two trains have departed this week.
Over the next six weeks, two trains a week will run a return journey between Crossrail’s tunnel entrance near Paddington and Northfleet. Later in the summer the trains will increase in size to 27 wagons and run three times a day. At the peak of tunnelling up to five freight trains a day will operate from Westbourne Park carrying a total of 7,000 tonnes of earth.
From Northfleet, the material will be transferred by ship to regeneration sites, including a new RSPB nature reserve at Wallasea Island, Essex. The first shipload of excavated material will be delivered to Wallasea Island in the summer.
More than 1 million tonnes of earth will be excavated during the tunnelling construction of Crossrail’s 6.4 km western tunnels between Royal Oak Portal and Farringdon station. Transporting excavated material from our western tunnels via train and boat has removed at least 50,000 lorry journeys from central London.
Andy Alder, Crossrail’s Western Tunnels Project Manager said: “At the peak, the tunnelling machines constructing the western tunnels will extract 7,000 tonnes of excavated material a day from underneath the streets of London. This excavated material will be used help create a RSPB nature reserve at Wallasea Island that will be enjoyed for generations to come.”
Crossrail will excavate about 6 million tonnes of material during the construction of stations and its 21km of twin-bore tunnel. Close to 100% of the excavated material is expected to be clean, uncontaminated and reusable elsewhere.
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First excavated material train arrives at Westbourne Park, May 2012 -
First excavated material train arrives at Westbourne Park, May 2012 -
First excavated material train arrives at Westbourne Park, May 2012 -
First excavated material train arrives at Westbourne Park, May 2012
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For further information contact:
Crossrail Press Office on 020 3229 9552 or email pressoffice@crossrail.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
GB Railfreight delivered the first train to Crossrail’s Westbourne Park site at 10am on Friday 11 May. It was loaded during the day and left site at 7pm.
C300 western running tunnels contractor BFK (BAM / Ferrovial / Kier JV) appointed GB Railfreight, in February 2012, to transport excavated material from Royal Oak to Northfleet.
Reinstatement of the freight line was delivered for Lafarge by Balfour Beatty Rail as the first stage of Lafarge’s regeneration of the Northfleet site. The rail link was completed on time and with zero safety incidents.
GB Railfreight will dedicate two Class 66 locomotives as well as two sets of 27 JNA wagons to transport the excavated material. Each of the 54 wagons has a carrying capacity of 76.9 tonnes.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will require 10 million tonnes of excavated material to create a new 1,500 acre nature reserve at Wallasea Island in Essex - one of the largest new wetland nature reserves in Europe for some 50 years. Crossrail will provide close to 4.5 million tonnes of excavated material to the RSPB. The remainder of Crossrail’s excavated material will be reused elsewhere. The first ships from Northfleet will arrive at Wallasea in summer 2012.
About Crossrail:
The total funding envelope available to deliver Crossrail is £14.8bn.
The Crossrail route will pass through 37 stations and run 118 km (73 miles) from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21 km (13 miles) tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. When Crossrail opens it will increase London's rail-based transport network capacity by 10%, supporting regeneration and cutting journey times across the city. Crossrail services are due to commence through central London in 2018.
Crossrail 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.