CrossRail: Surface railway works

While the highest profile CrossRail infrastructure works will be the construction of the new twin tunnels beneath central London, a considerable amount of work will be required in the outer areas to enable the project to reach its fruition. Indeed, 94% of the route mileage of the proposed network will be on existing stretches of surface railway. This paper first reviews the existing surface railway infrastructure that will become part of the CrossRail network, followed by a summary of the design development process. It then explains how the civil engineering works to be undertaken are to a large extent, dependent upon various decisions relating to 'systems’ issues for the proposed railway, for example rolling stock design, service frequency, signalling and traction power supply. Finally, a description is given of some of the key issues that have influenced the development of the CrossRail proposals on the surface sections of railway.