Tunnelling in sand in Farringdon Crossrail Station

Farringdon is one of Crossrail's major underground stations in central London, set in between the future Liverpool Street and Tottenham Court Road stations. The layout of the station includes two main platform tunnels, eight cross passages, two escalator tunnels with their lower chambers, two ventilation tunnels and four stub tunnels (see Figure 1). The platform tunnels, approximately 300 m long each and 10.6 m high and 11.4 m wide, were enlarged from the previously built TBM tunnels using sprayed concrete lining (SCL) methods. The excavation works for the SCL tunnels were completed in September 2015. BFK joint venture (BAM, Ferrovial Kier) was the main contractor and Dr. Sauer & Partners their SCL specialist designer, responsible for the SCL works prior to ring closure.