Standing at the crossroads
Crossrail is the new 118km railway project that will link Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport with Shenfield in the east and Abbey Wood, south of the Thames. Atkins is playing a pivotal role in bringing to life one of the biggest railway construction schemes seen in the capital for half a century.
Construction on Crossrail began in May 2009 with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and London’s Mayor Boris Johnson attending a groundbreaking ceremony at Canary Wharf. Its construction will speed up travel times dramatically and take some of the pressure off London’s transport system.
A pair of new tunnels will carry the tracks deep beneath central London and interchanges will be built at critical transport nodes, including Paddington, Tottenham Court Road and Liverpool Street, as well as Canary Wharf. Crossrail will be fully integrated with both the National Rail and London Underground rail networks. It is expected to start operations in 2017.
Atkins, working with Arup, will undertake the detailed design of the 23km twin-bore tunnels beneath London. Atkins (again with Arup) is also working on the engineering and design of the new Tottenham Court Road station and will play a key part in determining the look and feel of Crossrail, following the award of a key architectural contract in June.
Missing link
Until now London has been without a rail system capable of striding across the city, with less stopping and starting, and high speeds. Crossrail is the missing link. The project also promises to dramatically enhance the quality of the travel experience, of critical importance in the battle to get people out of cars and onto trains. Crossrail delivers a number of tangible improvements in this sphere.
Capacity is one of them. Crossrail will run 24 trains every hour during peak periods and initially trains will have ten coaches, compared to the six of a typical tube train. Each Crossrail train will be capable of carrying about 1,500 passengers. Significantly stations are being built to accommodate 12 carriage trains in the future.
There should be major improvements in passenger comfort too – Crossrail’s tunnels are spacious: each will have a diameter of 6m and will accommodate full-sized trains.
Residents of all London boroughs are also expected to reap a Crossrail dividend, with a reduction of road and rail congestion thanks to the extra capacity provided by the new link. And better access to major employment centres, such as the West End and Docklands, is expected to stimulate jobs growth across the capital.
2006 estimates indicate that the scheme will benefit the UK economy as a whole by at least £36bn. Some inner London boroughs, such as Camden, Greenwich, Lambeth and Newham, could be better off by more than £50m every year in the long run.
The here and now
At its peak, up to 14,000 people will be employed in building the railway. Crossrail will be contributing to a new Tunnelling Academy with an investment of around £7.5m. This will also yield longer-term benefits to partners, such as the water, electricity and telecommunications companies that do regular tunnelling work.
Crossrail has the potential to redefine the way London moves. But construction of Crossrail – which will entail the removal of around 7.3 million cubic metres of excavated material – has to be carefully managed in line with parliamentary commitments, local authority agreements and consideration for residents and businesses. Crossrail emphasise that getting Londoners on-side will be hugely important to the success of the project.
Says Rob Holden, CEO of Crossrail Ltd: “Explaining to the public how this is going to impact their lives and how it will improve their lives going forward is more than half the challenge.”