Crossrail will use eight tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to construct the new tunnels under London. These huge machines will work 24 hours a day beneath the streets of London, excavating large volumes of ground and erecting the concrete tunnel lining.
Each machine has a rotating cutter head at the front, and a series of trailers behind, housing all the mechanical and electrical equipment required for the excavation of material.
To construct the 42km of tunnel required for Crossrail the tunnel boring machines will undertake ten individual tunnel drives to construct the 6.2m diameter rail tunnels.
Each TBM weighs approximately 1000 tonnes and will be up to 140m in length with an external diameter of 7.1m. The eight TBMs will undertake a total of ten individual tunnel drives to construct the 6.2m diameter Crossrail tunnels.
For further information about tunnelling works on Crossrail visit:
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Video released in 2012
