Canary Wharf will be one of the largest Crossrail stations. Like the nearby Canary Wharf Tube station, the new Crossrail station will be built in dock water, in this case the North Dock of West India Quay. The station and proposed retail and park areas will be six storeys high; approximately the size of One Canada Square laid on its side. Construction of the Crossrail project began at North Dock in Canary Wharf in May 2009. Since then the construction team has driven over 1000 piles and pumped nearly 100 million litres of dock water - the equivalent to 40 Olympic swimming pools. Approximately 300000 tonnes of material has been excavated from beneath the dock bed and almost 375000 tonnes of concrete poured. The piling machines that constructed the dam use a 'silent' technique, powered by hydraulics. They are specially made by a Japanese company called Giken -- one of the first times the technique has been used in the UK, although it is extensively used in Japan. All of the water -- nearly 100 million litres, or 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools - has been pumped out to create the worksite, revealing a spectacular hole 260 metres long and between between 45 metres and 48 metres wide. Canary Wharf Contractors Limited, the construction arm of Canary Wharf Group, has created a station box that is more than 250m long and 30m wide, approximately the same size as One Canada Square laid on its side. Twenty-eight metres below the surface of the dock, twin 7.6m diameter rings are now ...

• published: 11 May 2012
• views: 4026
• author: CrossrailLtd