Contractors cutting steel reinforcement following piling operations at the St Pancras station on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link
The £ billion Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now High Speed One) was built between 1998-2007, partly funded by the European Union and forms a section of the Trans European Rail Network. It is basically a French-style high-speed rail line linking London with the Channel Tunnel. Stations on the CTRL are the existing Ashford International and new stations at Ebbsfleet and Stratford. The line ends at the rebuilt St. Pancras. Fourteen new tunnels were constructed, the longest being the London Tunnel which is long from Ripple Lane to Stratford, after which the line briefly comes to the surface at Stratford Station. Five huge shafts of diameter ventilate the twin bore, single-track tunnels and provide emergency access and evacuation points. The line passes in tunnel under the River Thames and crosses the M25 at Thurrock. For the Thames crossing (a 3km twin-bore tunnel), the line drops 1 in 40 down under the river and then climbs 1 in 40 up, curving at the same time. The CTRL then negotiates the M25 motorway, going under the southbound and over the northbound carriageway. Lengthy loops at two places along the route allow trains to be overtaken so freight and faster domestic trains can be mixed with 300 kph Eurostar high-speed services. In total, the new line took 9 years to build and comprises 109kms of new track, 152 new bridges, 3 viaducts, 14 new tunnels with a total length of 26kms (25% of route), 2 new and 2 refurbished stations and the project created 8000 new construction jobs. And Eurostar travels at 300kph!
Size: 5120px × 3407px
Location: St Pancras, London, UK
Photo credit: © qaphotos.com / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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