The eight TBMs undertook a total of ten indi-
vidual tunnel drives to construct the new 6.2m
diameter Crossrail tunnels.
The eight tunnel boring machines were used as
follows:
Royal Oak to Farringdon (Drive X): Crossrail’s
first pair of tunnelling machines, Phyllis and
Ada, were delivered to Westbourne Park just
west of Paddington, in early 2012 where they
were assembled and tested ahead of launch in
May and August respectively. The two machines
tunnelled 6.8km each towards Farringdon, com-
pleting their journeys in November 2013 and
January 2014 respectively.
Limmo to Farringdon (Drive Y): Crossrail’s sec-
ond pair of TBMs, Elizabeth and Victoria, were
delivered to Limmo Peninsula in London’s Dock-
lands in summer 2012 and lowered 40 metres
below ground in October 2012 ahead of their
launch. Together they undertook the longest
Crossrail tunnel drives, constructing 8.3km of
new rail tunnels between Limmo Peninsula, near
Canning Town, and Farringdon.
Pudding Mill Lane to Stepney Green (Drive Z) &
Limmo to Victoria Dock Portal (Drive G): Tunnel
boring machines Jessica and Ellie were used to
construct the 2.7km tunnel drives from Pud-
ding Mill Lane portal, near Stratford, to Stepney
Green. The machines were then dismantled,
lifted out of the shaft and transported by road
from Stepney Green to Limmo Peninsula, where
they were relaunched to drive the 0.9km tunnels
from Limmo to Victoria Dock Portal. These were
the only machines on the project to undertake
two separate tunnel drives.
Plumstead to North Woolwich Portal (Drive H):
In south-east London, tunnelling machines So-
phia and Mary were used to construct the 2.9km
long Thames Tunnel between Plumstead portal
and North Woolwich portal. They were Cross-
rail’s only mixed-shield, or “slurry”, TBMs and at
110 metres in length are slightly shorter than
our other TBMs.