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Crossrail has announced that a second tunnel boring machine (TBM) nicknamed Ada has started making its way towards Paddington.
Its first TBM, Phyllis, recently arrived at the central London location having navigated underneath the Hammersmith and City line and the Great Western Main Line.
Ada broke ground at Royal Oak Portal yesterday (August 21st) and once it has made sufficient progress, Phyllis will begin moving on towards Bond Street.
A 24km-long system of conveyor belts will be needed to remove excavated material from the western tunnels, with 66,000 tonnes of material having already been taken away.
In all, eight TBMs will be used to construct the 13-miles of twin-bore tunnel running between east and west London.
Keith Sibley, Crossrail area director west, said the tunnels between Royal Oak and Farringdon would be finished before the end of next year.
Once complete, the Crossrail project will allow for a high-frequency, high-capacity service to run between Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west and Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
Author: Economics Correspondent Graham Pontin (gpontin@acenet.co.uk or 0207 227 882)
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