What Lies Beneath: Excavating Crossrail's tunnels

Like most large cities these days, London exists in three dimensions. The high-rise buildings climbing into the sky are obvious to everyone, but the vital arteries below the ground — the gas, electricity and water utilities and, perhaps most of all, the London Underground — receive comparatively little attention. But subterranean London has been jolted to the surface of public consciousness in recent weeks, as the most visible phase of the development of a new part of the sub-city swings into action: the excavation of the tunnels for Crossrail.

Mooted for decades but only just getting off — or rather under — the ground, Crossrail is the scheme to link the commuter areas to the East and West of the capital to major transport and business hubs — Heathrow Airport, Paddington, the City, Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street. In order to do this, the line dives underground through 21km of new tunnel, from Royal Oak in the West to Stratford in the Northeast and Plumstead in the Southeast, and along this route are seven new stations, at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Canary Wharf.