Episode 1: Tunnelers on tunnel boring machine going through the “eye of the needle” at Tottenham Court Road – Image Credit: BBC/Windfall Films/Joby Lubman
Starting at 9:00pm on Wednesday, 16 July, 2014, The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway goes behind-the-scenes of Crossrail, to discover the characters and technology behind Europe’s biggest engineering project.
The three-part BBC Two series looks at the building of London’s brand new high frequency, high-capacity subterranean railway.
From the construction of a gigantic new train station located at Canary Wharf, to the father and son team excavating the lines new twin tube tunnels under the river Thames, this series reveals the cutting edge technology and larger than life characters at the heart of building London’s new underground.
Compensation grouting under Soho Square – Image Credit: BBC/Windfall Films/Joby Lubman
Employing over 10,000 workers and costing 15 billion (not million) pounds, the railway engineers must burrow forty-two kilometres of tunnels, ensure listed buildings don’t crack, London Underground trains continue running, roads stay open and the City stays in business.
Episode Guide
Episode 1 – Urban Heart Surgery
A team of crack engineers drive a 1,000-tonne tunnel boring machine through a small gap under Tottenham Court Road Station.
Episode 2 – Tunnels Under the Thames
Engineers take on a Great British obsession – building train tunnels under water. Meanwhile, engineer Linda Miller battles to rebuild a Victorian tunnel beneath the Royal Docks.
Episode 3 – Platforms and Plague Pits
A team battles to put together the giant jigsaw that will become the enormous Canary Wharf station. Then as engineers carve out the underground caverns to become the new stations, they make a gruesome discovery.
Here’s a look at the BBC series trailer:
