First some facts about Crossrail

• Construction began on May 15 2009 at Canary Wharf
• Tunnelling began in May 2012
• The route will  run over 100km from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through new tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east
• 10,000 people are working on the project, with some 400 apprentices at peak rate
• Two tunnel machines used, called Elizabeth and Victoria respectively, each weighing 1,000 tonnes, 150 meters long and about 7 meters in diameter.
• Roughly 4.5 million tonnes of excavated material from the tunnels has been and still being shipped to Wallasea Island in Essex where it is being used to create a new 1,500 acre RSPB nature reserve.
• Liverpool Street is one of the 10 new Crossrail stations being built in central and south east London.
• Total cost is estimated to be £14.8 billion.

It’s from Liverpool Street Station that I ventured into or rather down to see the immense construction project taking shape. I was taken aback by the vast scale of the work. It’s one thing seeing it on the news and papers but to actually see it and walk in the tunnels. That’s when you truly appreciate the scale and immensity of the construction taking place. All this whilst no more than 20-30 meters above your head, London is going about its daily business, people unware of what happening beneath their feet. Not forgetting also other tube lines that cut through London, the margin of error in making sure Crossrail didn’t impact those lines as well as London above is feat of engineering not seen.

Having seen the process of this infrastructure project take shape and understanding the challenges, I am looking forward to seeing it completed and passengers enjoying the improved transport links.

In my limited time I took the following photos and filmed a time-lapse of my visit there.

Time-lapse