CROSSRAIL : ANATOMY OF A MEGAPROJECT
process safer . Mujahid Khalid , Crossrail Project Manager at Custom House , said : “ Piecing together the 825 sections that make up the station ’ s structure has been a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle . It ’ s been impressive to see the building go up so quickly and efficiently and a lot of hard work has gone in from everyone on the project . Now the structure is complete , the focus will turn to fitting out the building with escalators , lifts and everything else to turn it into a fully operating station .”
Tottenham Court Road is one of the busiest stations – more than 50 million passengers a year already pass through it , and Crossrail estimates that 37 million will use its new station . At a billion pounds the station works to enable Tottenham Court Road to cope with these huge numbers amount to
Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station the biggest transport investment in the West End for decades . Alongside the upgrade of the existing tube station , Crossrail is building a new station over 300 yards in length and four storeys below ground . A new street level ticket hall will be constructed at Dean Street , with the station box continuing five levels below ground to a depth of around 25 metres , providing access to the new Crossrail platforms .
The first thing anyone notices when they look at the Crossrail map is that it doesn ’ t do much for north or south London . The end of the Crossrail tunnel is in sight , and now the case is being made for Crossrail 2 , a north / south route that Boris Johnson believes is needed to cut journey times , relieve congestion on existing commuter routes into the capital , enable the development of 200,000 homes and act as “ a vast economic boost for London and the UK economy ”. At an estimated £ 20 billion the project , currently in the consultation phase , will take a bit of selling , but as Boris Johnson says : “ You have got to think of London as the motor of the rest of the economy and you have to make sure you keep it firing on all cylinders .”
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