The Kier/Nuttall JV is currently assembling the Dosco-refurbished open-face rotary backhoe TBM in preparation for the first 630m drive of a 6.6m o.d. twin tube tunnel at Kings Cross station in Central London.
The Thameslink 2000 project forms part of Contract C103 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), which is currently under construction and will link the Channel Tunnel on the UK’s south coast with existing rail services. The bored tunnels on C103 will link the future Thameslink station box with the East Coast Main Line.
The first drive start is imminent and will take approximately eight weeks to complete. The 660m long second drive is scheduled to start in July 2004. The machine will bore through London Clay and will erect a bolted segmental lining as it goes.
The Kier/Nuttall JV also recently completed the cut and cover section at Kings Cross station, which included a 900m3 concrete pour for the tunnel roof.
The contractor is working closely with the client’s consultant, Rail Link Engineering, on the US$176M project. The cost of tunnelling is in the region of US$13M.
Work also involves connections to the West Coast Main Line, and the realignment of the Midland Main Line. The contract includes track formation, bridges and viaducts, a major road diversion and the provision of construction facilities for other CTRL contracts.
The client is Union Railways North, part of London and Continental Railways, which is responsible for the US$8.1bn CTRL project. The link should be completed by 2007 and will halve rail journeys between London and the south coast.
