Crossrail has set its final 250,000 concrete segments, used to line the tunnels of Europe's largest infrastructure project.

The final piece was cast at a specially built Crossrail factory in Chatham, Kent. The factory has produced 110,000 tunnel segments to line Crossrail's 12km long eastern twin tunnels, from east London to Farringdon. Segments for the western tunnels from Royal Oak to Paddington were manufactured at a separate facility at Old Oak Common. Segments for the Thames Tunnel between Plumstead and North Woolwich were manufactured in Ireland.


The Chatham factory sustained 120 jobs for local people, including two apprentices. Maidstone-based Brett Concrete supplied 140,000 cubic metres of concrete for the segments and Medway Ports facilitated 260 river barge movements from Chatham to Limmo Peninsula, near Canning Town, where segments feed Crossrail’s 1,000 tonne tunnel boring machines. Using river transport removed approximately 10,000 lorry journeys from the roads of Kent and east London.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive said: "Crossrail is Europe’s largest construction project with an immense supply chain spread across the country. The team at Chatham have done a superb job supplying our eastern tunnels with concrete segments."

(CD/IT)