On Feb 2, 6:02*pm, Bruce wrote:
David Walters wrote:
That's the old plan. A new one was announced today:http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/pres...l-outlines-new...
* *Crossrail originally planned to strengthen the central section
* *of the tunnel by removing the existing steel linings and back
* *filling the entire section with concrete foam. These tunnels
* *would then have been enlarged by boring through the concrete to
* *create tunnels that are large enough for Crossrail trains to pass.

* *Crossrail will now place cofferdams in the Connaught Passage
* *between the Victoria and Royal Albert Docks, pump out the water
* *and create a dry construction site allowing workers to dig down
* *to the tunnel to undertake the enlargement work through a .cut
* *and cover. approach.

Oh, well. *That's blown the budget. *;-)

I was down there at the same time as the BBC guys (was slightly
annoyed they "broke" the story to be honest - i've wanted to write
about UXO for years but Crossrail have been really paranoid about the
subject). During the many ice cold moments tediously waiting for them
to get the perfect shot of a metal pole being pushed into the ground,
I had a good chat both with the UXO guys and the tunnel engineers.

Basically it'll be cut and covered now (for the reasons I've stuck up
on LR) and they don't currently anticipate that being a problem - if
anything I got the impression they were quite happy about it from both
a finance and ops perspective as it was easier and (potentially)
cheaper. The original boring method had been intended to avoid
disrupting the Docks, but they've said they're basically fine with it
as long as it doesn't impact their boat shows.

One consequence though is that the Old Pump house will have to go -
that's going to be dismantled and donated to the SS Robin, who are
probably going to use it for their new ticket office once its been
reassembled.

In UXO terms, they reckon there might be five or six bombs down there
based on the records - hence the scans just to be sure.

Oh and the truck ISN'T armored.